Lawyer Says Israeli Forces Severely Beat Gaza Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya in Jail

Palestinian doctor Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza until he was detained by Israeli forces, is being held for 18 months without charge or trial, and his lawyer says he fears for his life.

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Amnesty International said the details emerging about his detention are “truly horrifying,” warning that his life is at “imminent risk” amid ongoing unlawful detention.

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BBC reported that Nasser Odeh told the broadcaster that when he visited Abu Safiya last Thursday at Rakefet, his client was so badly beaten that he could not recognise him, and Odeh said “He nearly lost consciousness several times.”

The BBC also reported that Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond by Tuesday to a petition calling for the release of Abu Safiya and 13 other Palestinian doctors from Gaza held without charge in Israel.

Nasser Odeh told the BBC that Abu Safiya said more than five prison guards assaulted him with their hands, batons and hammers after an appeal against his detention at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, and Odeh said he had not received any medical treatment.

In a statement to the BBC, the Israel Prison Service rejected the account as false, and the BBC reported that the Israel Prison Service said allegations were “false and entirely without factual basis”.

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Amnesty International said Abu Safiya’s lawyer reported that since his transfer to the underground detention facility Rakevet, he has been subjected to daily beatings, threats and other forms of abuse, and Amnesty quoted the lawyer’s account that Abu Safiya told him: “This is the last time you’ll see me…they brought me here to kill me.”

The Guardian reported that Abu Safiya met his lawyer on 2 July after a transfer to Rakefet in late June, and it quoted Odeh saying, “They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end,” as Abu Safiya faced “tangible danger to his life.”

Amnesty International said Abu Safiya’s detention is part of a wider pattern, stating that Israel has denied ICRC visits to Palestinian prisoners and detainees since October 2023 and calling for his immediate release and protection from abuse.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, as quoted by Common Dreams, said the imprisoned doctor’s detention is “arbitrary” and likely indicates “a widespread or systematic practice of arbitrary detention in the country,” while demanding release immediately.

The Independent reported that Abu Safiya was beaten so savagely in Israeli prison that his own lawyer said he struggled to recognise him, and it said he was held without charge ever since Israeli forces ejected everyone from Kamal Adwan Hospital in December 2024.

The Guardian added that Abu Safiya had been transferred from Ketziot prison to the Ganot prison complex and put in solitary confinement without explanation in late May, and it said he was moved to the Rakefet facility on 24 June, as Odeh called for an immediate independent medical examination.