URGENT! A sharp decline in the health of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya

Physicians for Human Rights Israel has warned of a sharp decline in the health of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the brave director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who has been in Israeli custody for a year and a half since the end of his brave struggle to keep the hospital open during a “genocide within a genocide” in northern Gaza from October to December 2024.

Dr. Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, “documented severe injuries, signs of physical assault, breathing difficulties, and repeated episodes of loss of consciousness” during a visit to his client on July 2 in Nitzan Prison, where he was transferred as a punishment for submitting a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding his release (a petition that was ultimately unsuccessful).

According to Nasser Odeh, Dr. Abu Safiya “was brought to the meeting with his hands and feet shackled and surrounded by masked prison guards.” He “had fresh and serious injuries and bruises to his head, around his eyes, ears, and neck, making him difficult to recognize.”

He also said, explicitly, “This is the last time you will see me. They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end.”

Physicians for Human Rights Israel renewed its call for the release of Dr. Abu Safiya and all the doctors from Gaza who are being held without charges or trial. See the link in the comments below for my report, from May, about the 75 doctors and medical staff from Gaza who are still held in Israel’s prisons, some for more than 900 days.

Naji Abbas, the director of PHRI’s Prisoners and Detainees Department said that the news about Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition information “raises immediate and serious concern” for his life. He described the lawyer's testimony as being amongst “the most disturbing the organization has heard since the war began”, and cited a comment made by Dr. Abu Safiya abut his fears that he “would be killed while in custody.”

Naji Abbas also confirmed that Dr. Abu Safiya's condition “worsened after he challenged the continuation of his detention in court”, and added that “the sequence of events warrants an immediate and independent investigation.” He also “stressed that Israeli authorities bear full responsibility for the health, safety, and life of anyone in custody and called for urgent intervention.”