Palestinian doctor Mazen al-Rantisi has been released from Israel’s notorious Ofer prison after being held for nearly four months. Pictures that spread after his release show the 72-year-old looking extremely gaunt, with a clear red wound on his forehead.
He was freed on Sunday from Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank. The prison has long been criticised over allegations of torture and physical abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
Mazen al-Rantisi is known as the “poor man’s doctor” for providing low-cost care to poor and needy Palestinians. Israeli forces detained him on June 21 in a pre-dawn raid on his home in the al-Tira area of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli authorities later filed charges against him over his role as chairman of the board of the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC), a Palestinian non-profit organisation that provides medical care to thousands of Palestinians every year.
Al-Rantisi has treated low-income patients for decades. In many cases he did not charge a fee, and he provided patients with free medicine as well as free treatment. His clinic in Ramallah became a place Palestinians relied on for low-cost care and personal support.
Patients say he gave medical advice by phone and messaging apps even outside clinic hours, often without taking any money for it.
His detention drew condemnation and concern across the West Bank. Family members, colleagues and patients demanded information about where he was being held and his physical condition, and called for his immediate release. Activists also launched a solidarity campaign on social media under the hashtag “Freedom for Dr Mazen al-Rantisi”.
At the time of his arrest, Israeli authorities did not give a reason for detaining him, nor did they say where he was being held.
Palestinian human rights groups say Israeli forces have detained hundreds of doctors and health workers since 2023, most of them from the Gaza Strip.
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