Family members and UN figures have reiterated demands for the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, pediatrician and director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been illegally imprisoned by the Israeli occupation for over a year. “We have received reports that Dr. Abu Safiya has been subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment, and that his health condition remains dire,” UN Special Rapporteurs Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng and Ben Saul warned this week.
In a conversation with Al Jazeera, Dr. Abu Safiya’s son described how his father experienced serious health problems after being kidnapped by Israeli occupying forces in December 2024. “The lawyer informed us at the beginning of his detention that my father was suffering from cardiac hypertrophy due to the conditions, torture, and confinement in the cell,” he said.
Despite reported medical conditions and concerns for his life, Israeli authorities have failed to provide adequate care or secure his immediate release – as thousands of health and legal experts and human rights advocates have demanded over the past year. “He has been systematically denied critical medical examination and treatment, and deprived of essential care to such an extent that his life, health and wellbeing have been gravely endangered,” Dr. Mofokeng and Saul emphasized. “States have the power to end his torment, and we call on them to use it. It is incumbent upon states with influence on Israel and the international community to use all avenues to ensure prevention, recourse, and justice.”
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Dr. Abu Safiya is among at least 95 health workers still imprisoned by Israeli forces, and widespread fears exist about their safety and lives. As documented in a new report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, torture has been applied without discrimination on thousands of Palestinians taken prisoner by Israel. “Since October 2023, torture in detention has been used on an unprecedented scale as punitive collective vengeance – a clear feature of genocide,” Albanese’s report states. “All Palestinians have been treated collectively as ‘terrorists’ and ‘security threats.'”
The torture of Palestinians is not merely punitive, but strategic, the findings continue. “It operates to degrade Palestinian bodies, fracture psychological integrity and erode collective resilience” – acting with similar aims to kidnapping, imprisoning, and killing health workers.
“Hundreds of health and rescue workers have been arbitrarily arrested, often in a degrading manner, while performing their medical duties,” UN Special Rapporteur Albanese also wrote, noting that several have died while imprisoned. “Among the medical workers killed in custody are three doctors – Adnan Al-Bursh, Iyad Al-Rantisi and Ziad Al-Dalou – and paramedic Hamdan Abu Anaba.”
Health workers continue to be killed by Israeli forces outside camps and prisons as well. Healthcare Workers Watch reported that 31-year-old paramedic Abdulrahman Hosni Hamdouna died in a targeted attack on a civilian car earlier this month.
Read more: Remember the Palestinian doctors killed by Israel
Beyond torture and targeted attacks, Gaza’s health system remains under extreme strain due to shortages and destruction of sanitation infrastructure, repairments of which Israeli authorities impede by limiting supplies. Food provisions remain below required nutritional standards, as does access to water. As a result of the destruction of water infrastructure and consequent contamination, public health concerns remain in place. “The lack of clean water is accelerating a severe public health crisis across the Strip,” Al Jazeera reported. “Doctors report a sharp rise in severe dehydration, kidney complications, and widespread water-borne diseases.”
All this adds to the existing risks of a health system that has been systematically attacked and dismantled since October 2023, still functioning at a fraction of its full capacity. While various left and progressive initiatives continue to struggle to raise funds for rebuilding Gaza’s hospitals, health centers, and medical education programs, they warn a true end to the violence and occupation of Palestine is the main precondition for this to succeed.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch*. For more articles and subscription to People’s Health Dispatch, click* here.
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