The Supreme Court based its decision on “confidential materials” that were not shared with Abu Safiya or his lawyer, Naji Abbas.
HEAPING more misery on Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the Israeli Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected his appeal for release from Israeli rape and torture dungeons, where he has been incarcerated since December 27, 2024. More than 530 days after his abduction, the Israelis have brought no charges against the doctor, but that has not stopped the Israeli kangaroo courts from prolonging his suffering in their notorious dungeons, where they rape Palestinians with trained dogs.
In an opaque, two-tiered justice system in which Palestinians face an astronomically high conviction rate — 99.74 percent, according to a 2011 Haaretz report — the Supreme Court based its decision on “confidential materials” that were not shared with Abu Safiya or his lawyer, Naji Abbas.
“The message sent by this decision is unmistakable: a medical professional can be deprived of his liberty indefinitely without being charged and without the authorities presenting evidence against him in open court,” Abbas said in a statement.
Dr Abu Safiya was transferred to solitary confinement at Nafha prison earlier this month. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital appeared via video link at a Supreme Court hearing on June 10, where he appeared considerably thinner and bore marks of torture on his body.
Last month, released detainees shared harrowing details of the torture and abuse to which the Israelis are subjecting Dr Abu Safiya, adding that he was at risk of dying if the abusive treatment continued without intervention.
Ninety Palestinians have already been killed in Israeli dungeons — the latest victim, Imad Rajeh Sarhan, died Sunday after years of nonstop physical and psychological torture.
The ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip has continuously targeted the besieged enclave’s medical infrastructure by destroying hospitals, killing and abducting medical personnel, and severely restricting the flow of medicines and other medical supplies, even after the declaration of the so-called ceasefire last October.
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.
Dr Abu Safiya kept Kamal Adwan Hospital running despite a weeks-long Israeli siege during the peak of Israeli barbarism in northern Gaza in 2024. It remained the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza before the Israelis ordered its evacuation, burned several of its sections, and sexually assaulted staff and patients on December 27, 2024. Dr Abu Safiya was last seen walking towards an Israeli tank to talk to the Israelis inside before he was abducted for his refusal to bow down to the Israeli diktat and abandon his patients.
The Israelis killed his teenaged son, Ibrahim, and injured him during a strike on the hospital, but Dr Abu Safiya, made of sterner stuff, continued to provide care for his patients until the evacuation orders and his subsequent abduction.
At least 14 Palestinian doctors from the Gaza Strip remain incarcerated, with scant hope of release in the absence of a concerted global effort to seek justice for Palestinian detainees being subjected to endless torture by the Israelis. — Palestine Will Be Free
