Israel Moves Gaza Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya to Solitary Confinement

Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was kidnapped by Israeli forces from the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza in 2024, has been transferred to solitary confinement in Israel after more than 500 days of detention without trial. Abu Safiya was the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, and kept the hospital running for more than 80 days under Israeli siege and bombardment in 2024. He refused to evacuate the hospital or abandon his patients there, even as Israel bombed the hospital. In December 2024, Israeli forces stormed the hospital , which was the last major health facility functioning in northern Gaza at the time. During the raid, Israeli soldiers burnt and damaged parts of the hospital, and detained Abu Safiya along with the remaining medical staff and patients. According to reports, soldiers forced those who remained at the hospital to remove their clothes. Until his detention, Abu Safiya was “ one of the most prominent voices of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector,” according to Amnesty International. On Friday, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said that Abu Safiya was transferred to solitary confinement without explanation while in a maximum-security prison in Israel. Though he has been imprisoned for almost a year and a half, Israel has never charged him. Related Story News | Human Rights Human Rights Group Visits Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Calls for His Release Israel has held hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya in its torture camps for nine months. By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg , T ruthout September 29, 2025 Truthout In a video statement released Friday, Abu Safiya’s son Elias, who is also a doctor, said that his father was moved in retaliation for making an appeal about his case. “After the lawyer and his defense team submitted an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court, the response to this legal process was further punishment and retaliation. My father was transferred from Negev Prison to solitary confinement in Nafha Prison,” Elias said. “How can a person be punished simply for seeking to know why he is being detained? How can turning to the courts become a reason for more punishment, isolation, and abuse?” Elias has also spoken about the conditions his father has faced while in detention, saying that for months, his father was not allowed to change his clothes and was left with untreated wounds. Abu Safiya’s son Ibrahim was killed by a drone strike at the entrance to the Kamal Adwan hospital in October 2024. Abu Safiya was initially held at Sde Teiman, the Israeli military base notorious for its torture and sexual abuse of Palestinians being detained. Lawyers have reported that throughout his imprisonment, he has been beaten regularly, and that he has been forcibly stripped, denied medical care, and deprived of food and water. Last week, Abu Safiya reportedly asked his lawyer to tell his son Elias to get in touch with the prominent Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif, to “remind the world” what Gaza is going through. He did not know that Anas al-Sharif, who became a well-respected journalist in Gaza during the course of the genocide, had been killed by Israel in August 2025, when Israeli soldiers targeted him and four other journalists outside of Gaza’s Shifa Hospital. An important fundraising appeal: 6 Days to raise $42,000 Truthout is one of only a few platforms for justice-oriented, grassroots journalism. Today, as political censorship from the right intensifies, we have no choice but to ask for your help. We are fundraising right now to cover our basic operating expenses. If you can support Truthout with a one-time or monthly donation, you will make a significant impact on our work. Anything you can do makes a difference — we appreciate your support. Share Share via Facebook Facebook Circle Icon Share via Bluesky Bluesky Circle Icon Share via Flipboard Flipboard Circle Icon Share via Mail Mail Circle Icon Share via Print More Share via Threads Share via Reddit Reddit Cirlce Icon Share via Pocket Pocket Circle Icon Share via Linkedin LinkedIn Circle Icon Share via Twitter Twitter Circle Icon Republish Republish This Article for Free Republishing Guidelines This article is licensed under Creative Commons ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 ), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms: Required: Required: You must credit Truthout and retain our links, as follows: "This article was originally published by Truthout." Required: You must preserve the article exactly as it appears on our site. You cannot edit, shorten or otherwise alter the content. Required: You must clearly credit the author(s) and retain their byline. Prohibited: You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Prohibited: You cannot use this work for commercial purposes. Article HTML Republish HTML code for copying <h1>Israel Moves Gaza Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya to Solitary Confinement</h1> By Shireen Akram-Boshar This article was originally published by <a href src="https://truthout.org/articles/israel-moves-gaza-hospital-director-hussam-abu-safiya-to-solitary-confinement/">Truthout</a> Abu Safiya was “one of the most prominent voices of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector,” according to Amnesty. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was kidnapped by Israeli forces from the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza in 2024, has been transferred to solitary confinement in Israel after more than 500 days of detention without trial. Abu Safiya was the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, and kept the hospital running for more than 80 days under Israeli siege and bombardment in 2024. He refused to evacuate the hospital or abandon his patients there, even as Israel bombed the hospital. In December 2024, Israeli forces <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/28-12-2024-kamal-adwan-hospital-out-of-service-following-a-raid-today-and-repeated-attacks-since-october">stormed the hospital</a>, which was the last major health facility functioning in northern Gaza at the time. During the raid, Israeli soldiers burnt and damaged parts of the hospital, and detained Abu Safiya along with the remaining medical staff and patients. According to reports, soldiers forced those who remained at the hospital to remove their clothes.  Until his detention, Abu Safiya was “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8923/2025/en/">one of the most prominent voices</a> of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector,” according to Amnesty International. On Friday, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said that Abu Safiya was transferred to solitary confinement without explanation while in a maximum-security prison in Israel. Though he has been imprisoned for almost a year and a half, Israel has never charged him.  In a <a href="https://x.com/HussamAbuSafiya/status/2062801470982963229">video statement</a> released Friday, Abu Safiya’s son Elias, who is also a doctor, said that his father was moved in retaliation for making an appeal about his case. “After the lawyer and his defense team submitted an appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court, the response to this legal process was further punishment and retaliation. My father was transferred from Negev Prison to solitary confinement in Nafha Prison,” Elias said.  “How can a person be punished simply for seeking to know why he is being detained? How can turning to the courts become a reason for more punishment, isolation, and abuse?”  Elias has also spoken about the conditions his father has faced while in detention, saying that for months, his father was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/09/israel-palestinian-doctor-hussam-abu-safiya-solitary-confinement-held-without-charge">not allowed to change his clothes</a> and was left with untreated wounds. Abu Safiya’s son Ibrahim was killed by a drone strike at the entrance to the Kamal Adwan hospital in October 2024.  Abu Safiya was initially held at Sde Teiman, the Israeli military base notorious for its torture and sexual abuse of Palestinians being detained. Lawyers have reported that throughout his imprisonment, he has been beaten regularly, and that he has been forcibly stripped, denied medical care, and deprived of food and water.  Last week, Abu Safiya reportedly asked his lawyer to tell his son Elias to get in touch with the prominent Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif, to “remind the world” what Gaza is going through. He did not know that Anas al-Sharif, who became a well-respected journalist in Gaza during the course of the genocide, had been killed by Israel in August 2025, when Israeli soldiers targeted him and four other journalists outside of Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.  <hr> This <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/israel-moves-gaza-hospital-director-hussam-abu-safiya-to-solitary-confinement/">article</a> was originally published by <a href="https://truthout.org">Truthout</a> and is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)</a>. Please maintain all links and credits in accordance with our <a href="https://truthout.org/republishing-policy">republishing guidelines</a>. Copy this HTML code to republish the article on your website Close Copy HTML This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) , and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license. Shireen Akram-Boshar Shireen Akram-Boshar is a socialist writer, editor and Middle East/North Africa solidarity activist. Truthout

Read the original article ↗