Urgent Action: Free Dr Hussam Abu Safiya

Paediatrician and hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya along with other medical staff and patients have been arbitrarily detained by the Israeli military.

On 27 December 2024, the Israeli military raided Kamal Adwan hospital in Mashrou’ Beit Lahiya. The raid put the hospital, the last functioning major medical facility in the North Gaza governorate, out of service.

For months, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya has been the most prominent voice of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector. He continued to bear witness and treat children despite the killing of his son in October 2024.

Israeli authorities must immediately release him. Pending his release, they must disclose his whereabouts and grant him access to a lawyer and ensure his protection from torture and other ill-treatment and provide him with adequate healthcare.

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Dear Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, I write to demand the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, a paediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the occupied Gaza Strip, who was arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared by Israeli forces on 27 December 2024, along with other hospital staff and patients, following a deadly raid on the hospital, which put it out of service. Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, 51, has for months acted as one of the most prominent voices of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector, providing comprehensive and reliable information about the healthcare situation in the North Gaza governorate, particularly since Israeli forces laid a near-total siege to the area since 6 October 2024. He continued to bear witness and treat children despite the killing of his son in October 2024. Testimonies collected by Amnesty International and other human rights groups reveal a dreadful reality inside Israeli prisons and detention centres, where Palestinian detainees, including health workers, face systematic torture and other ill-treatment and are denied their right to a fair trial and due process, along with access to adequate food and medical care. In light of this, and the ongoing failure of Israeli authorities to grant independent monitors access to detention centres, we are extremely concerned for the life and wellbeing of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya. By arresting him arbitrarily, refusing to disclose his whereabouts and refusing to grant him access to legal counsel, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international law, including the crime of enforced disappearance. Therefore, I urge you to secure the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and all other Palestinians, including health workers, forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained by Israel. Pending Dr Hussam Abu Safiya’s release, I urge you to disclose his whereabouts and ensure his protection from all forms of torture and other ill-treatment, including coercion. Also pending his release, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya must be granted access to legal counsel and adequate medical care while in detention. Yours sincerely,
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