Israeli Military Detains Gaza Hospital Director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya After 2024 Capture

Dr. Hussam Abou Safiya, 52, appeared by video link at Israel’s High Court of Justice hearing in Jerusalem on Wednesday after being captured by the Israeli military in late 2024 and held in detention ever since.

“According to ABNA, the international news agency of Ahl al-Bayt (AS), former Palestinian detainees testified to horrific eyewitness accounts about the systematic torture suffered by Dr”

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA

The Jerusalem Post reported that Abu Safiya appeared to have lost weight since being captured at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, and that his brother Muafaq said the family learned through his lawyer that he had lost 40 kg (88 lb.) in prison and suffered four fractured ribs and other ailments.

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA

In a separate account, EL PAÍS said the Supreme Court session was to determine whether to extend his detention under a law on illegal combatants, and it described the hearing as generating “the most international mobilization” with calls for his release from the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Amnesty International.

EL PAÍS also quoted his son Ilias Abu Safiya saying, “I didn’t see just an image. I saw a human being whose body the occupation tried to break, but whose spirit it could not bend,” as the video link briefly showed Abu Safiya handcuffed and visibly emaciated.

The Jerusalem Post added that the Supreme Court was hearing an appeal from Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, challenging his detention, and that the court was expected to announce its decision later on Wednesday.

ABNA reported that former Palestinian detainees testified to systematic torture inflicted on Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya in Israeli prisons, including accounts that investigators stripped him of his clothes and unleashed police dogs on him.

ABNA quoted former detainee Ahmad Qaddas saying, “He was physically shattered,” and it described prison cells filled with the doctor’s screams as he was subjected to brutal beating.

Al-Jazeera Net

The Jerusalem Post, meanwhile, reported that Abu Safiya is accused of being a member of Hamas, that Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry and Hamas denied the allegation, and that the Israel Prison Service denied allegations that he was denied adequate food.

During the hearing, Odeh told reporters his client was handcuffed and shackled throughout the proceedings and said he was being held in solitary confinement, while the Israel Prison Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Abu Safiya’s treatment in detention.

EL PAÍS also said Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Abu Odeh, could not disclose “many of the details” because the case falls under the law on illegal combatants, and it described the military prosecution presenting secret information to the judge to seek an extension of detention.

As Abu Safiya’s detention drew international attention, Al-Jazeera Net described protests in European capitals calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners and “an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire agreement.”

“Ghaid Qassem, the lawyer for Dr”

BFM

In Paris, the group “Europe Palestine” organized a demonstration in the Fontaine des Innocents square, chanting “Palestine is Arab from the sea to the river,” while protesters in London rallied in front of the Israeli Embassy and shouted “Freedom for Dr. حسام now.”

Al-Jazeera Net also reported that Berlin saw a large march with Palestinian flags and banners reading “The land is ours,” and it said the demonstrations came amid international criticism of Israel for its poor treatment of Palestinian prisoners.

The article linked the protests to Abu Safiya’s transfer from the Negev detention facility to solitary confinement in Nafha desert prison, describing it as depriving him of necessary treatment and basic rights under international law.

In parallel, TRT عربي said a human rights organization stated that a lawyer visited four detained doctors at Nafha Prison in the Negev on May 11, and it quoted the organization’s claim that Abu Safiya had been detained for 500 days and that the doctors described food as severely inadequate.