Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI): Despite clear documentation of his arrest, the army officially stated that it has no indication of the arrest or detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.
Agnes Callamard (Secretary General, Amnesty International): So in a new twist, the IDF now acknowledges detaining Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyyah, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, insisting he is investigated for links with Hamas. Please join @amnesty in calling for Dr. Hussam to be granted access to a lawyer and his family, and for his release.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI)
Despite clear documentation of his arrest, the army officially stated that it has no indication of the arrest or detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI)
“To suggest he isn’t in custody is an insult to the public’s intelligence. The events we experienced were very clear,” Dr. Muhammad Brika of Kamal Adwan told us after hearing the Israeli military’s claim that it wasn’t holding hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.
Dr. Brika recounted the events of Friday, December 27, when the Israeli military stormed the hospital, forcibly removed hundreds of patients and staff, arrested many, and shut down the last operational hospital in northern Gaza.
“That same day, around 10 pm, we were forcibly transported to Al-Fakhoora school, with Dr. Abu Safiya up front. Upon arrival, we were treated horribly—forced to strip down to our underwear and left standing in the freezing cold. This continued until 1:30 am, during which Dr. Abu Safiya was taken into the school, either for interrogation or to give testimony. It’s unclear what exactly was happening.”
Dr. Abu Safiya was later returned to the area where the rest of the medical staff was being held. It was the last time Dr. Brika would see him:
“[The Israeli officers] told us one group would be arrested while the other would be allowed to leave the school… At the last moment, they called Dr. Abu Safiya back and dressed him in white prison clothes in front of the entire medical staff. He was then formally arrested and taken into their custody, while the rest of us were allowed to leave.”
Forced disappearances are a crime against humanity. Dr. Abu Safiya’s abduction is among hundreds of similar cases of medical personnel in Gaza over the past 15 months. We’ll continue to monitor his case closely, one of 130 healthcare workers abducted and left to suffer in Israeli detention facilities. Israel’s actions have left countless patients without care and an entire population in Gaza deprived of medical services. We’ll keep demanding information on their whereabouts, while calling for the protection of their rights and their release.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI)
Only a few days after the evacuation and demolition of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the military is already evacuating the Indonesian Hospital, one of the two hospitals operating in the area, and even if partially. According to reports, the medical facility currently houses about 10 patients, including a cancer patient, women, children, and patients unable to move independently, along with nine staff members. –
A hospital employee stated that for several days, both patients and staff have been surviving on just one meal a day, and now there is no drinking water available. The staff is trying to treat patients without electricity, medication, or appropriate medical equipment, and they cannot evacuate the facility because they have no functioning ambulance. –
Yesterday, together with the organizations Gisha and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, we appealed to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), demanding an end to the complete destruction of the healthcare system in northern Gaza. Yet today, we see that the military has no intention of halting the ethnic cleansing. Today, we submitted another urgent appeal to COGAT, this time to prevent the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital. –
In northern Gaza, the military continues its bombardments, leaving many wounded individuals in urgent need of medical care. After the destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital, every remaining medical facility is critical for civilians. If the last hospitals, the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital, are closed, there will be no medical centers left in northern Gaza. This morning, Al-Awda Hospital was also bombed by the military, injuring two medical staff members in the emergency room. –
Israel is persistently destroying civilian infrastructure across the region and forcibly displacing the entire Palestinian population in violation of international law. We call on all international actors to intervene immediately and halt Israel’s ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza.
Agnes Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International.
So in a new twist, the IDF now acknowledges detaining Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyyah, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, insisting he is investigated for links with Hamas. Please join @amnesty in calling for Dr. Hussam to be granted access to a lawyer and his family, and for his release.
A few facts on Dr. Hussam
Kamal Adwan hospital was raided previously in December 2023, with several medical staff arbitrarily detained and disappeared. Back then, Dr. Hussam was interrogated briefly. At the time, not a single Israeli source accused Dr. Hussam of anything.
After the initial raid on Kamal Adwan, which put the hospital out of service, Dr. Hussam and other staff managed, with the support of international organizations, to get the hospital to function again. It played an indispensable role in treating children suffering from malnutrition and dehydration-related issues. The hospital also received those wounded from a series of Israeli attacks on starving people as they waited for flour trucks, known as flour massacres.
Between the months of February 2024-September 2024, Dr. Abu Safiya was the go-to source for human rights and humanitarian organizations investigating the situation of the healthcare sector in north Gaza and the impact of the mixture of disease and hunger on children in particular, providing accurate, non-sensationalist and credible information, coordinating with international health organisations, providing media briefings, all whilst obviously working as a dedicated pediatrician.
The only time even the Israeli army brought up the Hamas link was following his disappearance last Friday. They told journalists this morning 03/01 that “Hussam Abu Sufaya was apprehended for suspected involvement in terrorist activities, and for holding a rank in the Hamas terror organization, while hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were hiding inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital under his management. He is currently being investigated by Israeli security forces.”
Dr. Abu Safiya’s unlawful detention is emblematic of the broader attacks on the healthcare sector in Gaza and Israel’s attempts to annihilate it. It is part and parcel of Israel’s genocidal intent and genocidal acts – meant to inflict conditions of life CALCULATED TO BRING ABOUT DESTRUCTION OF PALESTINIANS.
Dr. Abu Safiya has been acting as a leading voice for the healthcare sector in the north of Gaza since October 2024 and refusing to abandon the hospital and his patients. He has stood against Israel’s genocidal act and his arrest along with that of 100s of Palestinian medical staff further provides evidence of genocidal intent. None of the medical staff abducted by Israeli forces since November 2023 from Gaza during raids on hospitals and clinics has been charged or put before a trial; those released after enduring unimaginable torture were never charged and did not stand trial. Those still detained remain held without charges or trial under inhumane conditions and at risk of torture.