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ReutersIsrael has confirmed it is detaining Gaza hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya after earlier telling a local NGO it was unaware of his case, prompting concern for his well-being.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said he is “currently under personal investigation by the Israeli security forces.”
The statement offered no explanation for the mix-up, but repeated that he was suspected of being a “terrorist” and of having held a position in Hamas, the Palestinian armed group at war with Israel in Gaza.
Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested when the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff out of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza last Friday, claiming the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold.”
On Thursday, the IDF told Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI) that it had “no indication of the arrest or detention of the person concerned.”
PHRI filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday demanding that Dr. Abu Safiya’s whereabouts be revealed. It states that the court gave the IDF a week to comply.
Meanwhile, Amnesty chief Agnès Callamard said the Israeli authorities should “urgently reveal his whereabouts”.
She said Israel detained “hundreds of Palestinian health workers from Gaza without charge or trial” and said they were “subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and held in incommunicado detention.”
Israel denies ill-treatment of detainees.
Dr Abu Safia’s family previously told BBC Arabic that they believe he is being held at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces have taken many detainees from Gaza for questioning.
Whistleblowers have previously told the BBC and other international media extremely harsh conditions of detention there. Israel said all detainees were being held “carefully and properly”.
The IDF ordered everyone at Kamal Advan Hospital to leave early last Friday, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff into the courtyard, medical workers told the BBC.
Beit Lahia, where the hospital is located, has been under an intensified Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October. The UN said the area is under “almost total siege” as the Israeli military severely restricts access to aid supplies to the area, where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
ReutersOn Saturday, the IDF said it had detained 240 militants in Kamal Adwan and said Dr. Abu Safiya was among the medical workers taken in for questioning.
The video showed him walking towards an Israeli armored vehicle before being taken away for questioning. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the arrest the same day, saying the doctor had been transferred for questioning.
Dr Abu Safiya was previously arrested by Israeli forces during a previous raid on the hospital in October, but was released shortly afterwards. During that Israeli operation, Dr. Abu Safia’s 15-year-old son was killed in a drone strike. Footage taken later that day showed him leading funeral prayers for his son in the hospital courtyard.
Israeli attacks on Gaza’s medical facilities have drawn increasing condemnation.
The UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that Israeli attacks on and around hospitals had begun Gaza’s health care system ‘on the brink of total collapse’ and raised serious concerns about war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel’s mission in Geneva said Israeli forces acted in accordance with international law and would “never target innocent civilians.”
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.
Since then, more than 45,580 people have died in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.
