| The Hind Rajab Foundation – La fondation Hind Rajab est la branche juridique du mouvement de la marche du 30 mars ; c’est une organisation non-gouvernementale créée en 2024 et basée à Bruxelles en Belgique. |
 A pervasive chain of complicity reaching deep into the Israeli medical community. At least 29 Palestinians died at the infamous Israeli detention camp of Sde Teiman. Shackles caused injuries so severe that limbs had to be amputated. Doctors carried out surgeries without adequate pain relief. Palestinians were kept chained and blindfolded during medical treatment, while medical personnel were instructed to hide their identities from clinical records. This is what the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) investigation uncovered. As the World Medical Association meets in Rotterdam (7–10 October), HRF has filed an ICC complaint against Israeli officials, medical professionals, and the Israeli Medical Association (IMA), alleging war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. The allegations describe a system in which medicine itself became part of a system of torture. HRF is going after all those responsible.SUPPORT OUR WORKMedical Ethics in Rotterdam: The WMA Faces Its Own TestThe Israeli Medical Association (IMA) is a founding member of the World Medical Association (WMA), with its leadership holding key positions inside the organization. IMA President Zion Hagay chairs the WMA’s Socio-Medical Affairs Committee, while IMA CEO Leah Wapner serves in advisory roles on WMA’s Finance and Planning, Socio-Medical Affairs, and Medical Ethics Committees. HRF’s submission documents how the IMA provided institutional cover for torture and medical abuse of Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman. This same association legitimizing torture now sits among WMA delegates with impunity.The Sde Teiman Field Hospital: Medical Complicity in a System of TortureSince October 2023, thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, mostly civilians, were detained at Sde Teiman military base under the invented designation of “unlawful combatants,” without charge or trial. Just over a week after 7 October 2023, Israel’s Ministry of Health established a medical facility inside the detention complex. Although the facility remained under the Ministry’s auspices, medical staff, including civilian doctors serving as reservists and volunteers, were placed under the authority of the Military Police rather than the Medical Corps. On 19 December 2023, the Ministry of Health issued a directive integrating the field hospital into Sde Teiman’s system of torture and abuse by requiring:The medical treatment of handcuffed and blindfolded detainees;Staff signing records by professional title to obscure records of individual responsibility;Hospital transfers to be limited to life-threatening injuries or risk of irreversible disability; and,Forced medical treatment without safeguards. Medical workers and former detainees at Sde Teiman have documented cases of torture and abuse, including amputations due to shackling, doctors carrying out surgeries without adequate pain management, and patients bound by all four limbs. Rather than investigate allegations of complicity in torture and abuse, IMA leadership publicly defended the medical treatment of detainees and refused to initiate disciplinary proceedings against members implicated in violating its code of ethics at Sde Teiman. By November 2025, at least 29 detainees had died from physical violence, medical neglect, or both.  A Chain of Criminal ResponsibilityThe Article 15 submission calls on the ICC Prosecutor to investigate a chain of responsibility extending from senior political officials who designed the policy and officials who issued binding directives, to the military commanders, medical professionals, and professional bodies that implemented or legitimized the system. Those identified in the communication include former Health Ministers Moshe Arbel and Uriel Buso, IMA President Zion Hagay, IMA CEO Leah Wapner, and IMA Ethics Board Chair Yosef Walfisch, among others. Natacha Bracq, Head of Litigation at HRF, stated: “The evidence shows that medical participation in torture and abuse at Sde Teiman was structural. The medical system kept detainees alive to endure further torture and interrogation while ensuring their injuries could not be traced through clinical records.”This Is Only the BeginningHRF is preparing files on Israeli medical professionals with dual nationalities who participated directly in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We will bring each case before national prosecutors in every jurisdiction where these individuals hold citizenship. JOIN HRF’S LEGAL MISSIONTO FIGHT IMPUNITYSince 2024, HRF has initiated more than 100 legal actions in 34 jurisdictions, including 20 Article 15 submissions to the ICC. These actions have resulted in arrests, police questioning, criminal investigations, and probe orders. Impunity will not go unchallenged. Give monthly or make a one-time donation. Help us pursue perpetrators and hold states accountable for meeting their obligations under international law.  DONATE / SPONSOR       |
