Hussam Abu Safiya, the Gaza hospital director detained by Israel without charge since December 2024

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Gaza, on November 21, 2024. AFP When his new lawyer was finally able to visit him in prison in September 2025, Hussam Abu Safiya's face lit up with a rare smile. For the first time in nine months, he was allowed to change his clothes. Since then, Nasser Odeh has seen his client only twice. The last visit was on May 12. "Of the ten requests to visit that I submitted over the past six months, eight were canceled while I was already standing in front of the prison, and without any explanation," said the Jerusalem-based lawyer who specializes in human rights, reached by phone by Le Monde , as were all the other witnesses quoted. Nearly a year and a half has passed since the abduction of Dr. Abu Safiya on December 27, 2024 – a fact denied by the Israeli army for forty days – an event immortalized by a photograph that has become emblematic of the war in Gaza. The image shows the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the largest in the north of the enclave, walking alone in a white coat toward an Israeli tank in the middle of a pulverized street. More than 500 days later, the 52-year-old pediatrician remains imprisoned without knowing the charges brought against him. You have 86.62% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.