Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera said Israeli forces had beaten its correspondent Ismail Alghoul following his arrest during a raid on Monday on Gaza’s largest hospital.The Israeli army attacked Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital on Monday, claiming it is “a high-precision operation” to battle Hamas. According to Gaza’s health ministry, about 30,000 people, including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff were trapped inside the complex.Al Jazeera said late Monday Alghoul had been released.The correspondent told the network he had been detained for about 12 hours by Israeli forces inside the hospital compound and stripped of his clothes and blindfolded with his hands bound.Earlier, in a statement to AFP, the network had demanded the release of its correspondent and others detained, saying that Israel was “fully responsible for their safety”.”Ismail Alghoul was arrested this morning inside Al-Shifa hospital along with a number of journalists while covering the Israeli occupation forces’ attack on the hospital,” Al Jazeera said.”According to eyewitnesses, Ismail was severely beaten and taken to an unknown location,” it added.A broadcast vehicle with cameras and other equipment was destroyed following the arrests, Al Jazeera added.The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.An Al Jazeera source, who was not authorised to brief the press and spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that five other people were arrested including Alghoul’s camera crew and engineers.The United States, Israel’s close ally, said it had asked the Israeli government for more information.”We have been very clear that journalists play a vital role and that no journalists should be targeted in order to silence their voices in this conflict or any other,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
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