Calls have been made for the release of Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was arrested Saturday along with dozens of others by the Israeli army during a raid on the facility in northern Gaza .
Fears are growing over the safety of Abu Sufia, whose whereabouts remain unclear since he was detained in the last barely functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, which has been pulverized by relentless Israeli bombardment during a weeks-long military siege of the region.
MedGlobal, a humanitarian NGO providing healthcare in disaster areas, demanded the immediate release of Abou Safia, while the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “dismayed” by the raid on the hospital.
Abu Safia’s latest photo, widely shared on social media, showed him walking towards an Israeli tank near Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was set on fire by Israeli forces during Friday’s violent raid.
The Israeli military said Saturday that Abu Safia had been detained for questioning on suspicion of being “a terrorist member of Hamas.” She arrested more than 240 people on the hospital grounds.
Since October 6, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the north, where the army says its land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Location unknown
Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal, said in a statement that Abou Safia’s arrest was “unjust and constituted a violation of international humanitarian law.”
“His arrest is not only unjust: it is a violation of international humanitarian law, which guarantees the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones. MedGlobal urgently calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Abu (Safia).
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said Abou Safia is considered a human rights defender by Front Line Defenders, an Ireland-based organization that works to protect people “threatened by their peaceful and legitimate work in in favor of human rights.
The raid was also the latest against a hospital during the war, in which Israel had targeted health care complexes.
“The systematic dismantling of the health system and the more than 80-day siege in northern Gaza endangers the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
Dr. Ali Elaydi, an orthopedic surgeon from Gaza, says the Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital and the arrest of Dr. Abu Safia is aimed at emptying the northern enclave of its residents.
“This essentially deprives the entire population of northern Gaza of any lasting medical care. I think it’s really intentional to force the population to leave northern Gaza,” Elaydi told Tel Aviv Tribune from the US city of Dallas.
“It’s systematic. (The Israelis) decided that without medical care, they (the Palestinians in northern Gaza) would have to evacuate. »
“This is a warning to all other doctors not to speak on behalf of their patients.”
Hamas on Friday rejected Israel’s claim that its fighters had operated from hospital throughout the 15-month war in Gaza, saying no fighters had been hospitalized.
The WHO said the remaining 15 critical patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers at Kamal Adwan Hospital were transferred on Friday to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which it described as “destroyed and non-functional”.
He said WHO would undertake an urgent mission to the Indonesian hospital on Sunday, in part to move critical patients to Gaza City.
An Israeli attack on the upper floor of al-Wafaa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday killed at least seven people and injured others, some seriously, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
“The seven Palestinians who were killed at al-Wafaa hospital are obviously patients because the hospital treats elderly people,” Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hind Khoudary said from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“And after the war started, it began to accommodate people with chronic illnesses and functioned as a rehabilitation center. »
The Israeli military said the attack on the hospital targeted a Hamas “command and control center.”
Murder of Adnan al-Bursh
Abu Safia, a pediatrician by training, refused several Israeli orders to evacuate Kamal Adwan Hospital.
He was briefly arrested and then released when Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan in late October.
During the same operation, Israeli forces killed Abu Safia’s son, Ibrahim, in a drone attack on the hospital gate.
Abu Safia was injured by shrapnel during another Israeli attack on the hospital on November 23, but he continued his work, keeping the world informed of developments at the hospital.
This is not the first time that Israeli forces have attacked a hospital and medical professionals. Adnan al-Bursh, a prominent Palestinian orthopedic surgeon and director of the orthopedic department at al-Shifa, the largest medical facility in Gaza before its destruction, was reportedly killed under torture in an Israeli prison.
He was working at al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza in December when he and other doctors were arrested by the Israeli army.