Detained Gaza hospital director faces life-threatening abuse in Israeli prison
Hussam Abu Safiya, the detained director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, is in immediate danger of death after Israeli prison authorities transferred him to solitary confinement and subjected him to severe physical abuse, human rights lawyers and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Saturday. Lawyer Nasser Odeh visited Abu Safiya on 2 July at the Rakefet interrogation facility inside Nitzan Prison and found him shackled, disfigured by fresh wounds to his head, eyes, ears and neck, and barely able to breathe or speak. Odeh reported that Abu Safiya exhibited extreme psychological distress, feared for his life, and had been beaten repeatedly while held in isolation since 3 June 2026. The Israel Prison Service denied the allegations as “false and entirely without factual basis,” stating that all detainees receive medical care in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines and that any complaint is examined through established procedures .
Abu Safiya, 58, was seized from the hospital on 27 December 2024 under Israel’s Unlawful Enemy Combatants Law and has been held without charge or due process for more than 555 days. His son Elyas, also a doctor, released a video message on 5 July describing his father’s condition as “life-threatening,” noting that Abu Safiya lost consciousness repeatedly during the lawyer’s visit and that his face was “disfigured from the marks of torture” . Physicians for Human Rights Israel called the documented injuries “among the most alarming testimonies” received since the start of the war and demanded an immediate judicial visit and Abu Safiya’s transfer to a civilian medical facility.
The rights group’s affidavit, corroborated by WAFA, states that Abu Safiya was brought into the meeting flanked by masked guards, his hands and feet bound, and that he showed “severe psychological distress” and reluctance to speak freely for fear of further retaliation . Naji Abbas, head of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said the deterioration followed Abu Safiya’s court challenge to his detention and warned that Israeli authorities bear full accountability for his safety.
Israel’s Justice Ministry has not responded to requests for comment beyond the Prison Service statement. The case has intensified scrutiny of detention conditions amid broader allegations of abuse within Israel’s prison system. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, canceled a planned trip to a UN police chiefs conference in New York this week after human rights groups filed complaints in the United States alleging his involvement in systematic abuse inside Israeli prisons .
Abu Safiya’s detention began when Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in late December 2024, forcing him out at gunpoint and rendering large sections of the facility inoperable. Two months earlier, an Israeli drone strike killed his son Ibrahim at the hospital entrance. Elyas Abu Safiya accused Arab and Muslim leaders of abandoning his father, saying, “Your silence is a betrayal and a crime, and complicity in torturing my father and the hostages inside Israeli prisons” .
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