Gaza Dr Hussam Abu Safiya Still Held By Israel A Year On

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian physician from Gaza, has been held in Israeli custody for a full year without charge or trial after being detained during a military raid on a hospital.

Abu Safiya, 52, was taken by Israeli forces on 27 December 2024 when troops entered Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and ordered its evacuation. The operation left the hospital unable to function. Since his arrest, he has remained in detention under Israel’s “illegal combatant” law, which allows indefinite imprisonment without formal charges and restricts detainees’ access to evidence used against them.

An Israeli court in Beersheba extended his detention for six months in March 2025 and renewed it again in October 2025, despite no criminal charges being filed.

Relatives and human rights groups say Abu Safiya has been subjected to severe abuse while in custody. In July, his lawyer, Ghaid Ghanem Qassem, reported that Abu Safiya had lost more than one-third of his body weight while held at Ofer Prison. According to the lawyer, he was repeatedly beaten and denied medical treatment despite making numerous requests.

Abu Safiya reportedly suffers from multiple health problems, including heart disease, hypertension, vision impairment and scabies, yet has not received proper medical care or specialist evaluation while detained.

The Palestinian Forum in Britain has launched the “Red Ribbons Campaign” to call for his release and for an end to the detention of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Supporters held a vigil in London on Saturday to highlight his case and what they describe as a broader system of mass incarceration.

Campaign organisers state that Israel is currently holding more than 9,100 Palestinians, including over 450 women and children, many of whom are detained without charge or trial.

Before his arrest, Abu Safiya had refused to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital despite repeated attacks, choosing instead to stay with patients and staff. Israeli forces later surrounded the facility and removed everyone inside. Since then, he has been transferred between several detention sites, including Sde Teiman and Ofer Prison, where supporters say mistreatment has continued.

Speaking to Qatar based Al Jazeera via video call from Kazakhstan, where the family relocated last month, Abu Safiya’s eldest son, Ilyas, said his father was detained solely because of his work as a doctor.

Ilyas explained that the family remained at the hospital throughout the bombardment, even though his mother, Albina, who holds Kazakh citizenship, could have left Gaza. On 26 October 2024, Israeli shelling killed his brother Ibrahim, aged 20, inside the hospital.

According to Ilyas, the loss deeply affected both his father and the hospital’s medical staff, who mourned Ibrahim while also fearing for Abu Safiya’s fate.