Israeli Border Police Arrest Mazen Al-Rantisi, Known as 'Doctor of the Poor,' in Ramallah

Israeli Border Police arrested 71-year-old Palestinian physician Mazen al-Rantisi, known as the “Doctor of the Poor,” in a pre-dawn raid on his home in the al-Tira neighborhood of Ramallah on Sunday, and his family was not informed of the reason for the arrest.

“The story of the 'Doctor of the Poor' who was arrested by Israel in Ramallah”

An-Nahar

Haaretz reported that Amira Hass wrote the arrest occurred after Border Police detained the doctor early Sunday morning, and the arrest sparked a broad wave of solidarity in the West Bank after reinforced Israeli forces detained him at dawn.

An-Nahar

The arrest was carried out by masked elements from the police and Border Police around 3 a.m., and al-Rantisi was taken for questioning by the Central Investigations Unit at the police center in Ma’ale Adumim.

The Guardian said Israeli forces arrested Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi in the al-Tira neighbourhood of Ramallah and later took him to the police station in the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, where he is believed to be under interrogation by the Special Investigations Unit.

The Guardian added that Israeli authorities have not said why he was detained or where he is currently being held, while Haaretz said his family was not informed of the reason for the arrest.

The Guardian quoted Naji Abbas, the director of the Prisoners and Detainees department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), saying, "The arrest of Dr Al-Rantisi is another alarming escalation in Israel’s crackdown on Palestinian civil society."

The Guardian also said PHRI warned that Dr Al-Rantisi’s detention would disrupt access to medical care because his clinic in Ramallah serves hundreds of patients.

Chronique de Palestine

In the account published by annahar, al-Rantisi’s wife Maria Soladad told the newspaper that masked elements from the police and Border Police stormed the home around 3 a.m. before they led al-Rantisi out of his bedroom.

The Guardian reported that Israeli authorities have not said why he was detained or where he is currently being held, while annahar said al-Rantisi is scheduled to appear before a military judge next week to consider extending his detention or releasing him on bail.

annahar further stated that al-Rantisi was prevented so far from contacting his lawyer, and that the organization’s accountant was arrested and its Ramallah headquarters were closed by a military order.

In northern Gaza, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya, was arrested by Israeli forces on December 27 during a raid that forced the last operating health facility in the north of Gaza to close its doors completely.

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Haaretz

Chronique de Palestine reported that after storming the hospital, the soldiers reportedly gathered the medical staff outside, forced them to strip, and set the building on fire, and it said Israeli forces released a video showing Abu Safiya entering a military vehicle at the soldiers’ command.

The same source said Israeli forces insisted nearly a week later that it still had “no indication of the arrest or detention [of Abu Safiya]” before confirming the next day that the hospital director had been arrested “on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities,” without providing proof.

Chronique de Palestine added that Abu Safiya was initially detained at Sde Teiman and then transferred on January 9 to Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where he remains, with his detention extended to February 13.

The Guardian noted that early in June, another prominent Palestinian doctor from Gaza, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2024 and has been held for more than 500 days without formal charges, was transferred without explanation to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.