Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was arrested by Israeli occupation forces 18 months ago, is facing systematic starvation, deprivation of medical care, and a total lack of communication with his family.
اضافة اعلان
Abu Safiya—the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip—was on duty when he voluntarily surrendered to Israeli soldiers in December 2024, in an attempt to prevent them from storming the hospital.
Elias Abu Safiya, the doctor’s son, stated that his 52-year-old father is living in tragic conditions in occupation prisons, subjected to systematic starvation, and suffering from a significant health deterioration due to being denied all medical rights.
Following international pressure, the occupation authorities allowed Abu Safiya to meet his lawyer after 90 days of being denied visits. According to his son, the family lives in constant anxiety due to the harrowing reports they receive regarding his father's condition.
The Abu Safiya family has begun treating every phone call as if it were the last. His son remarked that their situation "is no different from that of the families of other prisoners held in occupation jails."
He emphasized that all news coming from Israeli prisons is "terrifying and increases the anxiety of the families, who are living through a different kind of torment." He noted that they have not had any direct contact with his father since his arrest, following his news only through his lawyer, Nasser Odeh.
The son expressed his disbelief at his father’s arrest and torture despite not committing any crime "other than trying to save children," noting that his record with the Public Prosecution and the Israeli Supreme Court remains free of any violations.
Elias Abu Safiya explained that his father’s lawyer and the "Physicians for Human Rights" organization in the occupied Palestinian interior confirmed that Abu Safiya and 375 medical personnel detained by Israel "have not faced any charges so far." They are being held under the "Unlawful Combatant Law," which the occupation uses to justify detention without formal charges.
Israel utilizes these exceptional laws to disappear doctors who served as the final line of defense for the lives of civilians and children in northern Gaza.
A Global Symbol
At dawn on December 27, 2024, the world watched as Abu Safiya moved through the rubble in his white coat toward occupation tanks besieging Kamal Adwan Hospital—the last major facility providing minimal medical services in that part of the Strip.
Since that day, the doctor’s name has become a global symbol after he refused to leave the hospital, remaining inside with his family for months to care for children facing death from every direction.
On October 26, 2024, his son Ibrahim was martyred during a bombardment targeting the hospital's vicinity, and Abu Safiya himself was later injured during repeated attacks on the facility.
After days of siege, Israeli forces stormed the hospital, forced staff and patients to evacuate, burned parts of the building, and took Abu Safiya while he was still in his white medical uniform.
Later, human rights and media reports confirmed that the occupation first moved Abu Safiya to the Sde Teiman center in the Negev desert, then to Ofer Prison, where he remains detained without charge under the "Unlawful Combatant" law.
The Palestinian doctor's detention has been extended multiple times throughout 2025, including a decision on October 16, 2025, to extend his detention for an additional six months.
In February 2025, Dr. Abu Safiya appeared for the first time in a recording broadcast by Israeli media, shown shackled inside the prison. This sparked a wave of widespread condemnation, with many viewing the footage as a form of "psychological terrorism" and a deliberate attempt at humiliation. — Al Jazeera
