TEL AVIV, 24 Nov. - (ANA) - Israel has admitted abducting Dr Marwan al Hams, the director of Abu Youssef al Najjar Hospital and the official overseeing Gaza's field hospitals, in a covert raid carried out five months ago.

 

Israeli forces also detained his daughter to pressure him during interrogations, according to Israeli media reports.

 

The army claimed al Hams, who also served as spokesperson for Gaza's health ministry, was seized as a supposed "Hamas operative", accusing him of helping identify Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin?'s body and knowing the location of his burial in the so-called "White Crown" tunnel network in Rafah.

 

The operation was described by the army as one of many secret missions it has run in recent months in its long running effort to recover Goldin's remains.

 

Al Hams, a respected physician from Rafah, spent decades working across Gaza's hospitals and rose to senior leadership positions during the war.

 

The health ministry called him "the voice of the sick and the starving" for his warnings about Israel's blockade and the collapse of Gaza's health system.

 

Israeli special forces abducted him on 21 July 2025 while he was travelling to the International Committee of the Red Cross hospital in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

 

Israel's Channel i24 reported that the Shin Bet had subjected him to heavy interrogation about tunnel locations and held his daughter, Tasneem, to coerce him into providing information. He reportedly refused to give investigators what they wanted.

 

Goldin's remains were later retrieved after Hamas permitted access to a tunnel during a ceasefire.

 

Tasneem, a 22-year-old nurse, remains detained despite an official decision ordering her release. Her brother Obada said she had been stranded at the Kerem Shalom crossing after Israeli authorities refused to implement the order, citing a freeze on prisoner releases.

 

Dr al Hams studied medicine in Russia, earning his doctorate in 1998, later completing a diploma in anaesthesia and intensive care in Gaza. He attended UNRWA and government schools in Rafah before beginning his medical career.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/24 November 2025 - - -