The IDF says it suspects Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya “of being a Hamas terrorist.”
The Israeli army confirmed in a statement on Saturday that it had arrested Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal-Adwan Hospital located in the north of the Gaza Strip, for questioning. The latter is “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist” by Israel.
The IDF claims to have “completed a targeted operation against a Hamas command center” in the hospital, and having stopped “240 terrorists in the surrounding area.”
“Before the start of the targeted operation, 350 patients, as well as caregivers and medical staff, had been evacuated”specifies the press release.
Earlier, WHO had declared that Kamal-Adwan Hospital was “empty”indicating that patients and caregivers had been transferred to the Indonesian hospital. The organization mentions “serious risks” for the survival of patients who were in critical condition.
MedGlobal, the humanitarian organization for which Dr Hussam Abu Safiya worked, said on Friday it was gravely concerned about his fate.
The organization says the incident follows the detention in October of five other staff members, and says it is a “alarming and egregious pattern of targeting of medical staff and spaces.”