According to Palestinian prisoner associations, a Palestinian physician passed away in an Israeli penitentiary after enduring over four months of detention. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, aged 50, served as the head of orthopedics at al-Shifa Hospital.

The Israeli prison service confirmed on April 19th that a prisoner detained for reasons of national security, who had died in Ofer prison, was indeed Dr. Al-Bursh.

Although the cause of death was undisclosed, the prison service stated that an investigation into the incident was underway.

Conversely, Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups assert in a joint statement that Dr. Al-Bursh's demise was an "assassination," and his body remained under Israeli custody.

Dr. Al-Bursh led the orthopedics department at Gaza's primary medical institution, al-Shifa Hospital, which has faced multiple incursions by Israeli armed forces. He was detained by Israeli forces while temporarily serving at Al-Awada Hospital in northern Gaza.

Colleagues fondly remember the late surgeon, hailing him as "compassionate" and "heroic." Dr. Marwan Abu Saada, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, expressed profound sorrow at the news of Dr. Al-Bursh's passing.

Dr. Suhail Matar, another colleague, referred to Dr. Al-Bursh as “the safety valve” for orthopedic departments across Gaza’s hospitals.

"You rarely meet a person like him in your life because this doctor worked all his life with dedication and used to make tremendous efforts at the expense of himself," Dr Matar told BBC Arabic's Gaza Lifeline program.

He described his late colleague as someone who was never tired of working, and who was "loved by everyone and his smile never went away".

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, said she was "extremely alarmed" by news of Dr Al-Bursh's death and called on the diplomatic community to take concrete measures to protect Palestinians.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has discussed with Israel the importance of protecting humanitarian workers in Gaza.

"The president has said very clearly that when it comes to people who are... in Gaza providing that all-important care, humanitarian aid, humanitarian care, they need to be protected. They should be protected. And so certainly those conversations are going to continue," she said.

"We believe that certainly... the Israeli government has taken efforts to do just that and has taken into account our concerns and so we're going to continue to have those conversations but it is heartbreaking to hear."

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said in a statement that Dr Al-Bursh’s death meant that the total number of medical workers who had been killed by Israel since the 7 October attack now stands at 496.

It added that 1,500 others had been wounded while 309 had been arrested.

Medical facilities are protected under international law, but Israel says Hamas uses them as cover for military operations - something Hamas denies.

The BBC has approached the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

Bad news

Noted