An Israeli human rights organization revealed on Monday that the Israeli army prevents the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, from meeting with his lawyer and refuses to reveal his whereabouts, 11 days after his arrest.
The non-governmental human rights organization Physicians for Human Rights said in a post on the
The organization added, “Despite our urgent requests to send a lawyer, the army says that it is prohibited from visiting the lawyer until January 10, 2025.”
She continued, “The Israeli army also continues to withhold information about the whereabouts of Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, despite retracting his previous claim that he is not detained in Israel.”
The human rights organization considered that “medical workers are protected under international humanitarian law.”
She added: “If you attack medical workers, you attack an entire society, and you attack civilians who need medical care, people who suffer from chronic diseases, and people who suffer from injuries.”
It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Health in Gaza had announced on December 28, 2024, that the Israeli army had arrested Abu Safiya in the North Gaza Governorate.
One day before that, the Israeli army stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, set it on fire, took it out of service, and arrested more than 350 people who were inside it, including its director, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, whose picture at the time in his medical gown, led by soldiers in shackles amidst the destruction, received a wave of Arab and international condemnation.
As the Israeli genocide intensified, Abu Safiya paid a heavy personal price when he lost his son Ibrahim in the Israeli army’s storming of the hospital on October 26.
On November 24, he was injured as a result of a bombing that targeted the hospital, but he refused to leave his place and continued to treat the sick and wounded.
