CAIR Calls on AMA to Demand Release of Gaza Doctors, Medical Workers Held by Israel

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the American Medical Association (AMA) to demand the release of some 75 doctors and medical workers from Gaza in Israeli prisons. 

A new investigation by British journalist and activist Andy Worthington found that 75 doctors and medical workers from Gaza are still being held in Israeli prisons, most of them for between 500 and 900 days without charge or trial, in what Worthington described as “deeply inhumane conditions involving torture, starvation and medical neglect”.

SEE: Who Are the 75 Doctors and Medical Staff from Gaza Still Held in Israel’s Gruesome Prisons for Palestinians? | Andy Worthington

75 Gaza doctors, medics in Israeli prisons face torture, abuse

In a recent Al Jazeera report, Palestinians once detained in Israeli prisons discussed the torture and sexual violence to which they were subjected during their detentions.

SEE: Palestinian Detainees Expose Torture in Israeli Prisons

An analysis of medical data from Gaza by Doctors Without Border found increases in miscarriages, premature birth, and infant mortality linked with malnutrition.

SEE: The devastating impact of Israel’s manufactured malnutrition crisis in Gaza | Doctors Without Borders – USA

In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:

“Israel’s genocide targeting the people of Gaza is not being carried out only through bombs and missiles. It is also being carried out through the systematic deprivation of medical aid, supplies and food. The American Medical Association should publicly demand the immediate release of Gazan doctors and medical workers held in Israeli prisons. The AMA should also call for the end of Israel’s blockade of desperately-needed medical assistance to the people of Gaza.”

Last month, CAIR repeated its call for the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Gaza doctor and hospital director who has been in Israeli detention since December 2024, and condemned an Israeli court’s extension of his detention without charges.  

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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]