3/1/2025–|Last updated: 1/3/202512:59 AM (Mecca time)
The Israeli army told the American ABC network that Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, is in the grip of the Israeli authorities, while UN experts called on Israel to release him and stop targeting medical facilities in Gaza.
The occupation army added that Abu Safiya was arrested on suspicion of involvement in “terrorist activities” and that he is now under investigation by security forces.
In the same context, the Israeli “A24” channel said that the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital is being held by the Israeli army and is currently in Sde Teman detention center.
It quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying that Abu Safiya is under investigation by the Shin Bet on suspicion of his relationship with Hamas.
Sidi Teman is imprisoned in a military base in the Negev Desert, 30 kilometers from the Gaza Strip towards the city of Beersheba. It was established by the Israeli army immediately after the beginning of its aggression against Gaza on October 7, 2023, following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and many of those it arrested in Gaza were transferred to it, including children, youth, and the elderly.
Human rights and media reports say that Israeli soldiers committed terrible human rights violations against detainees in this prison, subjecting them to various types of torture and humiliation.
International concern
UN experts had expressed their deep concern about Abu Safiya, who was arrested by the occupation army about a week ago, and urged Israel to immediately release him and all other arbitrarily detained health care workers.
The UN experts stressed that attacks on health facilities are part of genocide, and that Israeli leaders must bear responsibility for them.
The UN experts said that Israeli forces carried out executions of some people in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, including a Palestinian man who was carrying a white flag.
UN experts indicated that more than 1,750 Palestinian medical and health workers were killed, and many were arbitrarily arrested.
Joint statement
In a joint statement yesterday, Thursday, Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, and Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, renewed Israel’s call to release Abu Safiya and expressed their deep concern about his fate.
In their statement, Mofokeng and Albanese stressed the need to end Israel’s current attack on Gaza, especially medical facilities on the one hand, and to ensure the release of Abu Safiya and all arbitrarily detained health workers on the other hand.
The UN statement added, “We are deeply concerned about the fate of Abu Safiya, another doctor who was kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by the occupation forces, and the reason this time was his defying evacuation orders and (refusing) to leave his patients and colleagues.”
He also stated that Israel’s blatant assault on the right to health in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, more than a year after the genocide, leads to new levels of impunity.
The two experts shed light on some of the tragedies that Abu Safiya endured as a result of the current Israeli genocide in Gaza, noting that a son of his was killed in front of him, and that this doctor was injured while performing his duty, and despite that, he continued to provide care to patients.
On Tuesday, Mofokeng – via the X platform – called on Israel to release Abu Safiya and stop the genocide in Gaza.
A day earlier, Albanese made the same demand, and through the
In the midst of the ongoing Israeli massacres in northern Gaza, the name of Abu Safiya shone as a symbol of humanity and steadfastness in the face of the genocide that the Strip has been subjected to for about 15 months.
Last Friday, the Israeli army stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, set it on fire, put it out of service, and arrested more than 350 people inside it, including its director, Dr. Abu Safiya.