News

Two Israeli courts have rejected petitions seeking the release of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza held without charge, including hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, whose request for an independent medical examination was also denied. On Wednesday, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said the so-called Israeli supreme court had rejected its petition seeking the release of the doctors, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, along with other hospital directors and medical specialists.

The court ruled that there were no grounds to intervene in the military chief of staff’s decision to keep the doctors in detention. Meanwhile, the Lod district court last month rejected a separate petition seeking permission for Abu Safiya to undergo an independent medical examination and obtain a second medical opinion. The rights group said the doctors’ detention, in some cases lasting more than two years, violated their rights and further aggravated the severe shortage of medical professionals in Gaza.

Citing the "ceasefire" and the territory’s urgent medical needs, PHRI called on the military chief of staff to revoke their detention orders. In its ruling, the supreme court maintained that Abu Safiya, who has been imprisoned since December 2024, was receiving regular medical care and that his health was not at risk. However, Dr. Amit Tirosh, an independent Israeli specialist in internal medicine and endocrinology who examined Abu Safiya’s prison medical records, challenged the account of his health presented before the court.

Tirosh identified several medical findings that he said had not been adequately investigated, including severe weight loss, chest pain and a delay of roughly one month in diagnosing scabies, despite repeated requests for treatment. He also found that Abu Safiya’s hemoglobin level had declined between February and July 2026. Citing documented injuries and reports of loss of consciousness, Tirosh called for further investigation to rule out potentially serious medical conditions.

“Put simply, the account presented in the court ruling is inconsistent with the data,” Tirosh wrote. Naji Abbas of PHRI said, “Fourteen doctors, including hospital directors and specialists in essential medical fields, remain imprisoned without charge or trial at a time when Gaza’s healthcare system desperately needs them.” Regarding Abu Safiya’s case, Abbas raised concerns that the refusal to allow him a second medical opinion was driven by “non-medical considerations,” rather than an assessment of his medical needs.

The Israeli military abducted Abu Safiya on December 27, 2024, following a raid on the hospital, during which troops forcibly removed him at gunpoint and rendered significant portions of the medical facility non-operational. Abu Safiya had been injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the hospital on November 24, 2024. However, he chose to remain at the facility and continue treating patients, even after his son was killed in an earlier Israeli raid on October 26, 2024.

In February 2025, Israeli officials designated Abu Safiya an “unlawful combatant,” amid allegations of torture and inadequate medical care. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the overall death toll from Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged territory since October 2023 has risen to 74,653, with 176,007 people injured. Since the "ceasefire" took effect on October 10, 2025, Israeli forces have continued to carry out airstrikes, shootings and demolitions across Gaza.