Israel confirms a Gaza hospital director is at a notorious military prison in the West Bank

AP , Monday 13 Jan 2025

An Israeli rights group says Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of a north Gaza hospital who had disappeared since Israeli troops took him during a raid two weeks ago, is being held in a notorious Israeli military prison in the occupied West Bank.

Hussam Abu Safiya
File Photo: Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya (C), director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man, injured in an Israeli strike on Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

 

The group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said the Israeli military confirmed in an email that Abu Safiya is at Ofer Prison. A lawyer for Abu Safiya’s family was told that he will not be allowed to see him until Jan. 29, said a spokesman for PHRI, Ran Yaron, told The Associated Press. The military had previously refused to comment when asked by the AP about Abu Safiya’s location.

Colleagues and family have expressed fears over the safety of Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after troops seized him and dozens of others during a Dec. 27 raid on the hospital. Former detainees have reported harsh conditions at Ofer Prison, including beatings, minimal food rations and refusals of medical care.

A prominent Palestinian surgeon detained in a hospital raid in December 2023 died in Ofer Prison the following April.

The military has said Abu Safiya is being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas. Israel's military has repeatedly made similar claims regarding hospitals in Gaza and civilian installations before repeatedly attacking these structures. The result is the almost complete destruction of healthcare in Gaza. 

"Israel's pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians' access to health and medical care," the UN Human Rights Office previously said in a statement.

Staff deny the claims, and the Gaza Health Ministry says at least 60 medical staff were among those detained. Colleagues say the 51-year-old Abu Safiya kept Kamal Adwan Hospital operating even as Israeli troops besieged it for around 85 days starting in October.

He became known for his frequent videos pleading for international help as Israeli fire hit the hospital multiple times during the siege. One of his sons was killed by an Israeli drone strike during the siege, and Abu Safiya was wounded by shrapnel from another strike.

Naji Abbas of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said the refusal to allow a lawyer to meet Abu Safiya “raises serious concerns about the treatment he is enduring in detention.”

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