Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya 'subjected to various forms of torture' in Israeli prisons, says lawyer

An update on Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya of Kamal Adwan Hospital from his lawyer.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, is being “subjected to various forms of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment” in Israeli dungeons since his abduction late last year, his lawyer has revealed after visiting him for the first time since he has been held hostage.

Dr. Abu Safiya was repeatedly denied legal counsel during his captivity before being allowed to see his lawyer for the first time on Tuesday (February 11), 47 days after his abduction by the Zionist stormtroopers on December 27 last year. He has been held in the Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank and subjected to “severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest.” He was put in “solitary confinement for 25 days” and at one point “lost consciousness in his cell due to severe breathing difficulties.” Further, Dr. Abu Safiya has been denied medical care despite suffering from heart complications.

Dr. Abu Safiya stood defiant as the Israelis raided his hospital multiple times during the course of their 15 months of genocidal assault on Gaza. The final siege on the hospital went on for months before the Israeli military forcefully evacuated the last active medical facility in northern Gaza and set it on fire on December 27, 2024. In an image that has since become iconic, Dr. Abu Safiya was last seen walking towards two Israeli tanks in a rubble-strewn street near the hospital. Dr. Abu Safiya was subsequently abducted by the Israelis, who first refused to acknowledge his kidnapping before accepting that he was indeed in their captivity. In a modus operandi typical of the occupation forces, Dr. Abu Safiya was accused of being a “terrorist” and “holding a rank” in Hamas without so much as a semblance of evidence.

His whereabouts were unknown for about a week after his abduction. However, Palestinian hostages released from the Israeli dungeons recounted witnessing torture and humiliation administered to Dr. Abu Safiya first in a temporary interrogation centre inside Gaza and later at the notorious Sde Teiman facility, where Palestinians have been raped and tortured to death during the course of the ongoing genocide. The Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor warned of a “grave risk to his life, following patterns of deliberate killings and deaths under torture previously suffered by other doctors and medical staff arrested from Gaza since October 2023.”

Now we have the first accounts of the inhuman and humiliating treatment meted out to Dr. Abu Safiya in the Israeli torture camps from his legal counsel. A lawyer from Al Mezan Center for Human Rights or Al Mezan, a Gaza-based independent human rights organisation, on Tuesday visited the doctor and published a report on his condition.

Here’s Al Mezan’s report in full:

Around 3 p.m. today [February 11], Al Mezan’s lawyer visited Dr. Abu Safiya in Ofer Prison, located in the unlawfully occupied West Bank. During the visit, Dr. Abu Safiya detailed the various forms of torture and abuse to which he has been subjected both during his unlawful arrest and throughout his arbitrary detention by Israeli forces and authorities.

When he was captured from Gaza and transferred to the Sde Teiman military detention camp, he was subjected to various forms of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment—methods that are emblematic of Israeli mass arrest operations in Gaza. He reported being forcibly stripped, having his hands tightly shackled, and being made to sit on sharp gravel for approximately five hours by Israeli forces. He was also subjected to severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest.

In Ofer Prison, where he was transferred on 9 January 2025, he was held in solitary confinement for 25 days—a period so prolonged as to constitute a form of torture in itself. During this time, he endured nearly continuous interrogation for 10 days. At one point, he lost consciousness in his cell due to severe breathing difficulties. During interrogation, Dr. Abu Safiya was confronted with accusations that he firmly denied, stressing that he is a doctor whose sole duty is to provide medical care to patients and the wounded.

He also reported a severe decline in his health, with his weight dropping from 96 kg to 84 kg, a 12 kg loss in less than two months—further evidence of Israel’s systematic starvation policies against Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Additionally, he disclosed that he suffers from heart muscle enlargement. Despite repeatedly requesting medical attention from Israeli authorities, he has been systematically denied access to a specialist examination and deprived of essential care, further endangering his already deteriorating condition.

Al Mezan unequivocally condemns the torture and other grave human rights abuses inflicted upon Dr. Abu Safiya by Israeli forces and authorities.

We had previously warned of the heightened risk of torture and ill-treatment in his case, particularly due to the restrictions imposed on his access to legal counsel—concerns that have now been confirmed during the lawyer’s visit. Al Mezan highlights that his treatment is not an isolated incident but part of Israel’s systematic and widespread human rights violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which we have been documenting since October 2023. These abuses constitute serious violations of international law and underscore the urgent need for his immediate release and accountability for those responsible.

We urge the international community—particularly Israel’s enabling allies—to take immediate action to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abu Safiya, as well as of all Palestinians who have been unlawfully arrested and arbitrarily detained by Israeli authorities, including hundreds of healthcare workers.

In total contravention of all laws and norms of conduct during warfare, there has been an unprecedented attack on medical professionals and institutions by the Israelis during the course of the Gaza genocide. Starting with the gruesome October 2023 attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital that killed nearly 500 Palestinians, the Israelis have gone on to dismantle 34 hospitals, including the largest in the besieged enclave, Al-Shifa Hospital, which was declared to be “no longer able to function in any way, shape or form” by the time the genocidal Israelis were done with it in early April last year.

Dr. Abu Safiya’s Kamal Adwan Hospital was among the last hospitals to be totally destroyed.

Doctors and other medical staff have been specifically targeted by the Zionists. Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, a much-loved doctor in the enclave, was tortured and raped to death in an Israeli dungeon. The government in Gaza recently published a report in which it counted 1,155 martyred medical personnel during the genocidal assault. Other than the 34 hospitals, 80 health centers, 212 medical institutions, and 191 ambulances have been damaged. The total losses in medical infrastructure in Gaza exceed $3 billion.

Such wanton destruction of medical infrastructure is unprecedented in modern wars, however, the Israelis have faced no repercussions for their egregious conduct. The Western institutions, which have enabled the Israelis to carry out a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians in broad daylight, have kept the same conspiracy of silence on the treatment of medical professionals in Gaza at the hands of the Zionists. As a result, there is no Western pressure to free Dr. Abu Safiya and his fellow medical professionals from the Israeli dungeons. He remains incarcerated for the crime of carrying out his humanitarian duties during a genocide while suffering personal losses, including the murder of his son by Israel. About two weeks into his abduction, Dr. Abu Safiya’s mother passed away of a heart attack. In keeping with their inhuman practice, the Israelis didn’t allow the doctor to attend his mother’s funeral.

With the prisoner exchanges between the Palestinian resistance and the Israelis suspended for now, there’s no telling how much longer Dr. Abu Safiya’s torment in Zionist torture chambers will last.

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