Nearly 18 months after his abduction, Dr. Abu Safiya has not been charged with any crime.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been transferred to solitary confinement in Nafha prison from Negev detention centre.
The punitive action against the doctor was taken following legal action initiated by the defence team to challenge his continued detention, according to his son, Elias Abu Safiya. The latest Israeli injustice against Dr. Abu Safiya has heightened his family’s concerns about his health and psychological condition, in light of the limited information they receive about him in Israeli detention, Elias told Al Jazeera Mubasher.
Elias said that the family is living in a constant state of anxiety and fear over his father’s fate, noting that his detention is taking place in conditions he described as difficult and tragic, and that the lack of news and reassurance increases the family’s suffering day after day. He added that time passes very slowly for family members who await any information that reassures them of their father’s safety.
‘Tell Anas al-Sharif’
Highlighting the harsh conditions and the extent of isolation that Palestinians endure in Israel’s rape and torture dungeons, Elias revealed that, a couple of months ago, Dr. Abu Safiya, in a letter, asked him to contact the journalist Anas al-Sharif to report on the issue of detainees and their suffering.
Anas, a journalist with Al Jazeera who heroically covered the Gaza genocide, was martyred in a targeted Israeli strike on a journalists’ tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on August 10 last year.
Dr. Abu Safiya had no idea about Anas’s fate even months after his martyrdom.
Elias pointed out that his father at the time believed that Anas was still alive and saw in him a voice capable of conveying the suffering of Palestinian detainees to global public opinion.
The detained doctor’s son said that this message reflects the extent of isolation in which his father is living inside prison, and his clinging to the hope that the prisoners’ suffering would reach the world. He affirmed that his father was searching for any window through which to convey the reality of what is happening behind bars, and for any voice capable of reminding the international community of the suffering of detainees and their families.
Abducted from his hospital
The Israelis are punishing Dr. Abu Safiya for his refusal to abandon his humanitarian duties, even in the face of extreme brutality.
The Israelis besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital — at the time the only functioning hospital in northern Gaza — for weeks in late 2024, following months of a campaign aimed at depopulating the northern half of the enclave, before ultimately forcing Palestinians to evacuate it on December 27, 2024.
Multiple members of staff and patients at the hospital revealed that the Israelis had sexually abused them after the forced evacuation.
That same day, Dr. Abu Safiya was seen walking inside an Israeli tank to speak to the Israelis inside. He has remained in Israeli detention since then. He has had restricted access to lawyers and has been brutally tortured in Israeli dungeons, losing as much as 40 kilogrammes in body weight since his abduction.
Last month, released detainees revealed that the doctor was at risk of death due to the extreme abuse to which he was being subjected in Israeli captivity.
Nearly 18 months after his abduction, Dr. Abu Safiya has not been charged with any crime. However, his innocence is inconsequential to the Israelis as they have continued to wage a genocidal war on all Palestinians in Gaza.
The Israelis have killed a staggering 1,571 Palestinian healthcare workers since October 7, 2023, according to Healthcare Workers Watch. A further 446 healthcare workers remain in unlawful Israeli detention.
Appeals for release
Humanitarian organisations have made numerous appeals for the release of Dr. Abu Safiya. However, these have had no impact on the Israelis, who long ago abandoned even the pretence of operating under international law or adhering to basic moral standards.
In concluding his appeal, Elias Abu Safiya renewed his call on human rights and humanitarian organisations, as well as media outlets, to continue shedding light on his father’s case and on the issue of Palestinian prisoners more broadly. He said that silence on these issues leaves prisoners and their families to face pain and fear alone.
More than 9,400 Palestinians remain in Israeli detention, including 87 female detainees and 360 children. –– Palestine Will Be Free
