Israel detains several Palestinian doctors, with fatalities reported among them.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is among numerous medical professionals who are said to be unlawfully imprisoned, facing reports of torture and abuse while in detention. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is among the many medical professionals imprisoned unlawfully, reportedly subjected to torture and abuse during detention.
Currently, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a doctor from Gaza, remains in Israeli detention amid allegations of torture. Even following a recent hostage exchange involving Hamas, numerous health professionals continue to be held captive, facing significant mistreatment. Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested on December 27 and subsequently transferred to the notorious Sde Teyman prison camp.
With each passing day, the concern for Dr. Abu Safiya's safety intensifies, particularly as reports from released prisoners indicate he was tortured while detained. Tragically, at least three Palestinian doctors taken from Gaza have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023.
As the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested after repeated Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attacks on the facility, which culminated in an invasion that inflicted severe damage on essential structures and resulted in the detention of numerous medical staff. A viral image capturing Dr. Abu Safiya approaching an Israeli tank has drawn global attention, eliciting demands for his release.
According to Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British charity, the IDF's invasion forced “an estimated 350 people, including patients, to evacuate the hospital. Some patients were redirected to the Indonesian Hospital, which had ceased operations due to military actions on December 24. The last remaining hospital in Northern Gaza, al-Awda Hospital, faces imminent collapse due to continuous attacks and dwindling resources.”
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor noted that after Dr. Abu Safiya's abduction, “the Israeli army subsequently transferred Dr. Abu Safiya to a field interrogation site in the Al-Fakhura area of Jabalia Refugee Camp, where he was stripped and whipped with a thick wire commonly used for street electrical wiring.”
Reports of systematic torture against Palestinians in Israeli prisons are widespread, detailing methods that include electric shocks to genitals, stress positions, psychological torment, near-starvation, and sexual violence which leads to severe internal injuries.
Following a legal request from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel for a visit to Dr. Abu Safiya, the Israeli military claimed it had “found no indication of the arrest or detention of the individual in question.” However, released Palestinians from Sde Teiman detention on December 29 confirmed his presence there, with one stating that Dr. Abu Safiya had given him contact information for his sons and asked that The Red Cross and media investigate his situation.
On January 5, PHRI reported on X that “the Israeli military also continues to withhold information about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s detention location, despite retracting their earlier claim that he isn’t being held in Israel.”
A recently released detainee, Hazem Alwan, stated he was abducted from Jabalia and used as a human shield before being taken to an Israeli prison, where he spent two days with Dr. Abu Safiya. “It was clear, the brutal methods of torture used by the occupation on him. Dr. Hussam is in danger, nobody is looking after him. His mental state is completely shattered, completely…”
In October 2024, during the IDF invasion of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Abu Safiya's son, Ibrahim, was killed. Nevertheless, he persisted in providing medical care to the wounded in northern Gaza's harrowing conditions.
In November 2024, Dr. Abu Safiya sustained injuries in what is believed to have been “an assassination attempt by Israel due to his unwavering commitment to providing medical care to patients in northern Gaza.” He reported on December 6, 2024, that “the situation inside and around the hospital is catastrophic. There are a large number of martyrs and wounded, including four martyrs from the hospital’s medical staff, and there are no surgeons left.”
He recounted the series of Israeli airstrikes near the hospital and the forcible evacuation of all patients and medical staff. “In the morning, we were shocked to see hundreds of dead bodies and wounded people in the streets surrounding the hospital.”
According to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, “Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention was extended until February 13, 2025 by an Israeli Court,” while his legal counsel has been barred from visiting him until January 22.
Another physician, Dr. Akram Abu Ouda, head of Orthopedics at the Indonesian Hospital, remains missing, with Ramy Abdu emphasizing, “He has been detained by Israel for over a year, and it is our duty to remind the world he is wrongfully imprisoned, suffering under torture, with his health deteriorating.”
The growing death toll of Palestinian doctors in custody is alarming. UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, reported in September 2024, “Dr. Ziad Eldalou is the third doctor confirmed to have died while being detained by Israel since October 7, 2023.” Detained on March 18, 2024, Dr. Eldalou passed away three days later.
Recalling the circumstances of other deaths, Euro-Med highlights the case of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, who “was killed under torture at Ofer Detention Centre on April 19, 2024,” and Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, who “died due to torture at an Israeli Shin Bet interrogation center in Ashkelon, one week after his detention in November 2023.”
Of Dr. Al-Bursh’s tragic fate, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, remarked that he was “likely raped to death.”
These horrific incidents reflect a systematic assault on Gaza’s healthcare system and a profound blow to Palestinian morale. Observing the imprisonment, torture, and deaths of dedicated health care workers is distressing for a community already facing immense challenges.
In early January 2025, both Mofokeng and Albanese issued a grave warning regarding the ongoing violence against healthcare workers amid the destruction of hospitals in Gaza. They expressed their deep concern for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, calling attention to the pattern of harassment and arbitrary detention faced by medical professionals in the region.
The lack of information surrounding Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition, along with testimonies of his torture and restrictions on legal access, raise alarming fears for his life in captivity.
Such a situation demands urgent international intervention for his release. Tragically, it appears that if Dr. Abu Safiya were detained by a country designated as an adversary by the West, intervention would likely be swift.
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
Currently, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a doctor from Gaza, remains in Israeli detention amid allegations of torture. Even following a recent hostage exchange involving Hamas, numerous health professionals continue to be held captive, facing significant mistreatment. Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested on December 27 and subsequently transferred to the notorious Sde Teyman prison camp.
With each passing day, the concern for Dr. Abu Safiya's safety intensifies, particularly as reports from released prisoners indicate he was tortured while detained. Tragically, at least three Palestinian doctors taken from Gaza have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023.
As the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested after repeated Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attacks on the facility, which culminated in an invasion that inflicted severe damage on essential structures and resulted in the detention of numerous medical staff. A viral image capturing Dr. Abu Safiya approaching an Israeli tank has drawn global attention, eliciting demands for his release.
According to Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British charity, the IDF's invasion forced “an estimated 350 people, including patients, to evacuate the hospital. Some patients were redirected to the Indonesian Hospital, which had ceased operations due to military actions on December 24. The last remaining hospital in Northern Gaza, al-Awda Hospital, faces imminent collapse due to continuous attacks and dwindling resources.”
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor noted that after Dr. Abu Safiya's abduction, “the Israeli army subsequently transferred Dr. Abu Safiya to a field interrogation site in the Al-Fakhura area of Jabalia Refugee Camp, where he was stripped and whipped with a thick wire commonly used for street electrical wiring.”
Reports of systematic torture against Palestinians in Israeli prisons are widespread, detailing methods that include electric shocks to genitals, stress positions, psychological torment, near-starvation, and sexual violence which leads to severe internal injuries.
Following a legal request from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel for a visit to Dr. Abu Safiya, the Israeli military claimed it had “found no indication of the arrest or detention of the individual in question.” However, released Palestinians from Sde Teiman detention on December 29 confirmed his presence there, with one stating that Dr. Abu Safiya had given him contact information for his sons and asked that The Red Cross and media investigate his situation.
On January 5, PHRI reported on X that “the Israeli military also continues to withhold information about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s detention location, despite retracting their earlier claim that he isn’t being held in Israel.”
A recently released detainee, Hazem Alwan, stated he was abducted from Jabalia and used as a human shield before being taken to an Israeli prison, where he spent two days with Dr. Abu Safiya. “It was clear, the brutal methods of torture used by the occupation on him. Dr. Hussam is in danger, nobody is looking after him. His mental state is completely shattered, completely…”
In October 2024, during the IDF invasion of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Abu Safiya's son, Ibrahim, was killed. Nevertheless, he persisted in providing medical care to the wounded in northern Gaza's harrowing conditions.
In November 2024, Dr. Abu Safiya sustained injuries in what is believed to have been “an assassination attempt by Israel due to his unwavering commitment to providing medical care to patients in northern Gaza.” He reported on December 6, 2024, that “the situation inside and around the hospital is catastrophic. There are a large number of martyrs and wounded, including four martyrs from the hospital’s medical staff, and there are no surgeons left.”
He recounted the series of Israeli airstrikes near the hospital and the forcible evacuation of all patients and medical staff. “In the morning, we were shocked to see hundreds of dead bodies and wounded people in the streets surrounding the hospital.”
According to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, “Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention was extended until February 13, 2025 by an Israeli Court,” while his legal counsel has been barred from visiting him until January 22.
Another physician, Dr. Akram Abu Ouda, head of Orthopedics at the Indonesian Hospital, remains missing, with Ramy Abdu emphasizing, “He has been detained by Israel for over a year, and it is our duty to remind the world he is wrongfully imprisoned, suffering under torture, with his health deteriorating.”
The growing death toll of Palestinian doctors in custody is alarming. UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, reported in September 2024, “Dr. Ziad Eldalou is the third doctor confirmed to have died while being detained by Israel since October 7, 2023.” Detained on March 18, 2024, Dr. Eldalou passed away three days later.
Recalling the circumstances of other deaths, Euro-Med highlights the case of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, who “was killed under torture at Ofer Detention Centre on April 19, 2024,” and Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, who “died due to torture at an Israeli Shin Bet interrogation center in Ashkelon, one week after his detention in November 2023.”
Of Dr. Al-Bursh’s tragic fate, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, remarked that he was “likely raped to death.”
These horrific incidents reflect a systematic assault on Gaza’s healthcare system and a profound blow to Palestinian morale. Observing the imprisonment, torture, and deaths of dedicated health care workers is distressing for a community already facing immense challenges.
In early January 2025, both Mofokeng and Albanese issued a grave warning regarding the ongoing violence against healthcare workers amid the destruction of hospitals in Gaza. They expressed their deep concern for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, calling attention to the pattern of harassment and arbitrary detention faced by medical professionals in the region.
The lack of information surrounding Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition, along with testimonies of his torture and restrictions on legal access, raise alarming fears for his life in captivity.
Such a situation demands urgent international intervention for his release. Tragically, it appears that if Dr. Abu Safiya were detained by a country designated as an adversary by the West, intervention would likely be swift.
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
