Abu Safiya was the lead physician in Gaza for MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit that has partnered with local health care workers since 2018 and arranges volunteer medical missions to the enclave. In an interview with NBC News, the organization’s co-founder, Dr. John Kahler, said he was “very afraid” that Abu Safiya won’t “make it out alive” from detention. He added that the physician was “a friend of mine, a hero, mentor,” who, among other things, had helped to establish nutrition stabilization centers in the Gaza Strip. Where’s Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya? Not until 11 February 2025 did Israel allow Dr. Abu Safiya to meet with a legal counsel. In the latest visit by a lawyer to Ofer military prison in early July 2025, she said Abu Safiya has lost more than 40kg (88 pounds) since his arrest, dropping from 100kg (220 pounds) to about 60kg (132 pounds). He was severely beaten on June 24 at Ofer Prison, sustaining injuries to his ribs, face and back. Despite requesting medical care and cardiology tests for an irregular heartbeat, his requests were denied.Last photograph of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyeh as he walked towards the Israeli tank . pic.twitter.com/n34y7ReAc9
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) December 28, 2024
He remains in solitary confinement under harsh conditions, deprived of sunlight, and still wearing winter clothes in the summer heat. His lawyer warned that Abu Safiya and many other Palestinian detainees are in grave condition and the Israeli Prison Service continues to impose severe restrictions on their access to food, adequate medical care and hygiene. “Unlawful Combatants” The Israeli occupation forces have abducted more than 2000 known Gazans during the ongoing genocide, a number that is likely even higher, and are holding them in indefinite incommunicado detention, without charge or trial, under the Unlawful Combatants Law, in clear violation of international law. There are currently 2,454 detainees classified as “unlawful combatants”, the highest recorded since the start of the genocide, prisoner advocacy groups said. According to Amnesty International, citing former detainees, during their incommunicado detention, which in some cases amounted to enforced disappearance, Israeli military, intelligence and police forces subjected them to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Unlawful Combatants Law grants the Israeli military sweeping powers to detain anyone from Gaza that they suspect of engaging in attacks against Israel or posing a threat to state security for indefinitely renewable periods without having to produce evidence to substantiate the claims. Those detained included doctors taken into custody at hospitals for refusing to abandon their patients; mothers separated from their infants while trying to cross the so-called “safe corridor” from northern Gaza to the south; human rights defenders, UN workers, journalists and other civilians. One of the most well-known cases is that of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. In a statement, Amnesty said, “Dr. Abu Safiya’s arrest and ongoing arbitrary detention without charges or trial – based on the abusive Unlawful Combatants’ Law – is a reflection of Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinian health workers and the decimation of the healthcare system in Gaza in order to inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians.” The Israeli military claimed in January that Abu Safiya had been involved “in terrorist activities” and held “a rank” in Hamas that it said had made the Kamal Adwan Hospital a stronghold during the war. In March, an Israeli court extended the detention of Abu Safiya for six months. The ruling classified him as an “unlawful combatant”. But according to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, no formal charges had been made against the hospital director. How Many Doctors Are Being Held in Israeli Prisons? Twenty-eight doctors from Gaza are being held inside Israeli prisons, eight of whom are senior consultants in surgery, orthopaedics, intensive care, cardiology and paediatrics, according to a July data from Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW). Twenty-one of those detained have been held for more than 400 days. HWW said none had been charged with any crimes by the Israeli occupation. Three healthcare workers have been detained since the start of July, including Dr. Marwan al-Hams, head of Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, who was abducted by an Israeli undercover force outside the field hospital of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip. His whereabouts are unknown, and Israel has yet to publish a statement on his detention.For the first time since his abduction, footage shows the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, detained Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was kidnapped by occupation forces from Gaza Strip, appearing handcuffed inside Israeli occupation prisons. pic.twitter.com/eoOBwRB6aP
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 19, 2025
