Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, located in the northern Gaza Strip, was arrested by Israeli army forces on December 27, 2024. He holds a master’s degree and a Palestinian Board certificate in Pediatrics and Neonatology.
Birth and upbringing
Hossam Idris Abu Safiya – whose nickname is “Abu Elias” – was born on November 21, 1973 in Jabalia Camp in the northern Gaza Strip Governorate to a family that was displaced in 1948 from the town of Hamama, located in the Ashkelon District.
Medical experience
Abu Safiya is one of the prominent figures in the health field, and one of the leaders of the medical teams in the Gaza Strip.
He obtained a master’s degree and a Palestinian Board certificate in pediatrics and neonatology, and served as director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
Challenges and resilience
On October 5, 2024, the Israeli army imposed a stifling siege on the northern Gaza Strip governorate, preventing the entry of food and water, and launched air strikes and continuous shelling, resulting in massacres against civilians in the region.
The siege of the north limited the work of hospitals in the besieged areas, including Kamal Adwan Hospital. Despite this, members of the medical staff consisting of two doctors – one of whom was Abu Safiya – and a small number of nurses continued to perform their humanitarian duty, and refused to obey the army’s repeated orders to evacuate the hospital buildings and leave the governorate despite His attacks against them continue.
On October 25, 2024, Israeli army forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital and arrested its director, Hussam Abu Safiya, along with hundreds of injured people and medical staff. After releasing him, he received news of the martyrdom of his son Elias in an Israeli raid.
On November 24 of the same year, Abu Safiya was injured as a result of being targeted by an Israeli drone as he was leaving the operating room. He explained that he was injured by 6 shrapnel that penetrated the thigh area, causing tearing in the veins and arteries.
On December 27, 2024, the occupation forces stormed the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital and arrested Abu Safiya. A picture of him was published before his arrest, showing him walking through the rubble of the hospital that was burned by the Israeli army, with occupation tanks in his face.
The Director General of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir Al-Bursh, accused the occupation of deceiving the medical staff, who told him that he would go to the Indonesian hospital, but he took its members to another place and arrested them all, including Hussam Abu Safiya.
He confirmed that Abu Safiya was severely beaten with batons and sticks by the Israeli occupation forces, who forced him to take off his clothes and dress him as a detainee, and that the occupation used him as a human shield, according to those who were later released.