Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh: Torture, Silence, and Resilience

By Sahar El Zahed

Dec 02, 2024

The story of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, a distinguished orthopedic surgeon and head of the Orthopedic Surgery Department at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, embodies the harrowing reality of cruelty and systematic dehumanization attempts faced by Palestinians. Dr. Al-Bursh was detained in December 2023 at Al-Awda Hospital, where he had been tirelessly treating patients. Despite receiving threats, he refused to abandon his duties, remaining with his patients even under the direst circumstances. On April 10, 2024, he was pronounced dead in Ofer Prison after enduring months of relentless torture and suspected sexual violence.

Sky News detailed his tragic ordeal, reporting that soldiers had thrown him into the prison courtyard, stripped of his lower clothing and covered in wounds, strongly suggesting he had been sexually assaulted. Fellow detainees carried him inside, finding him unable to walk or move due to severe pain in his ribs and other injuries. Witnesses described how his condition had deteriorated so much that even those who knew him struggled to recognize him.1

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories expressed concern over his death, emphasizing the likelihood of sexual violence as part of his torture and drawing attention to the broader abuse suffered by Palestinian detainees.2

Tragically, Dr. Al-Bursh’s case is far from unique. Reports from numerous Palestinian detainees reveal that similar abuses are widespread, further illustrating the calculated effort to instill fear and suppress resistance. A verified video shows the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner by guards at the Sde Teiman detention facility in Israel’s Negev desert. Authenticated by Al Jazeera, the footage depicts guards obscuring their faces as they assault the prisoner, who was later hospitalized and unable to walk. While the attack caused outrage, far-right figures, including government officials, condemned the recording of the video rather than the crime, with protesters defending the suspects and boldly claiming their "right" to assault Palestinians while shouting, “Disgrace” and “We are the sovereign.” Ten guards were initially arrested, but several were quickly released, sparking further unrest during court hearings on alleged torture at the facility.3

Despite these egregious violations, the world has largely remained silent, offering no significant outcry or condemnation from major powers that claim to champion freedom, liberalism, and human rights. Such acts, like countless other crimes committed against Palestinians, have been normalized, treated as routine, and stripped of the outrage they deserve. The disturbing reality is that these violations have reached a point where even the most basic rights, such as protection from assault and sexual violence, seem to require advocacy—rights that should be inherent and unassailable under international law.

This reality challenges the very assumptions upon which international law is built. Rights once considered self-evident and protected have been eroded, with violations often met with impunity rather than justice. The systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon underscores a collapse of moral values among those who commit, condone, or normalize such acts.

These actions reflect a deliberate attempt to instill fear, degrade communities, and dismantle resilience by making the colonized natives feel powerless and humiliated. Yet, such acts do not achieve their intended purpose. This is starkly evident in the treatment of Palestinian detainees, who are frequently stripped of their clothing and left undressed or in their underwear, in a calculated attempt to strip them of their dignity. This form of humiliation, aimed at asserting dominance, instead reveals the cowardice of those who rely on such tactics. To attack defenseless individuals is not an act of power but a glaring admission of fear and moral failure. The oppressors degrade not their victims, but themselves, eroding their own humanity with every act of violence.

Hannah Arendt’s concept of the "banality of evil" provides a profound lens through which to understand these systemic violations. Arendt observed how atrocities, through normalization, become part of routine behavior, enabling perpetrators to detach themselves from the moral consequences of their actions. This normalization does not diminish the dignity of the victims; instead, it corrodes the humanity of those who commit and justify such acts, reducing them to instruments of oppression devoid of ethical grounding. This moral collapse highlights the true cost of allowing such violence to become routine: not just the erosion of legal and moral principles, but the fundamental degradation of humanity itself.4

The tragedy of Dr. Al-Bursh’s death also coincides with the relentless assault on Gaza’s healthcare system. Kamal Adwan Hospital, a vital medical facility in northern Gaza, has faced repeated attacks, leaving its generators, fuel tanks, and oxygen station severely damaged. Its director was recently injured in an Israeli drone strike. This strategy extends beyond hospitals to encompass ambulances, doctors, paramedics, and even journalists—those who embody resistance simply by helping others or exposing hidden truths.

Healthcare workers who risk their lives to save others are labeled threats, and journalists are silenced for shedding light on the grim realities of life under occupation. Even patients are not spared; their "crime" is surviving the initial onslaughts. In this distorted reality, every Palestinian is seen as a criminal—not for their actions, but for their very existence on their land and their identity. From children, viewed as future threats simply because they will grow up on their ancestral land, to native inhabitants accused of obstructing colonial ambitions and demographic manipulation, no one is exempt from this manufactured guilt. The systematic targeting of these individuals and institutions is justified under the guise of "fighting terrorism" or "self-defense." However, these narratives crumble under scrutiny, revealing a deliberate campaign of destruction and dehumanization aimed at erasing resistance.

May God have mercy on you, Dr. Al-Bursh. You lived with dignity, stood as a hero, and now remain an enduring symbol of resilience and hope.

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