By Midnight Adams
London, (The Muslim News): Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, 53, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has warned that he fears he will not survive his detention in Israel after his lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said his health had significantly deteriorated following a recent visit on July 2.
His deteriorating condition has intensified calls from international organisations, United Nations experts and activists for his immediate release, with rights groups warning that his health and wellbeing are at serious risk.
During the meeting Dr Abu Safiya told his lawyer, “This is the last time you will see me… they brought me here to kill me. I do not see myself leaving here alive. This is the end.”
Odeh has urgently raised concerns about Dr Abu Safiya’s physical and psychological health and has called for an independent medical assessment and an urgent judicial visit to assess his condition.
His concerns are based on what he described as severe physical abuse suffered during detention. According to his lawyer, Dr Abu Safiya’s reported being beaten with a hammer to his head, eyes, ears and neck.
Odeh also said the injuries were so severe he did not initially recognise Dr Abu Safiya, who was struggling to sit upright in his chair. The reported assault came amid growing concerns over the conditions of his detention, including prolonged isolation and the denial of medical care.
On June 3, Dr Abu Safiya was placed in solitary confinement at Ganot Prison, before being transferred to Nitzan Prison in Ramla, where he is currently being held. Physicians for Human Rights Israel said he spent 13 days in solitary confinement before Israel’s Supreme Court heard his appeal. He has also been denied access to medical treatment, despite his worsening condition. Despite the deterioration in his health, Dr Abu Safiya remains in Israeli custody months after his arrest, with no criminal charges brought against him.
He was arrested by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on December 27, 2024 under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, which United Nations experts have criticised over concerns about arbitrary detention and due process violations.
He was taken from Kamal Adwan Hospital where he was continuing to treat patients, despite Israeli evacuation orders. Concerns over his health have persisted throughout his detention.
In September 2025, Israeli organisation Physicians for Human Rights released a report on Dr Abu Safiya’s deteriorating health, which reported he was suffering from scabies, significant weight loss, heart problems, and hyperextension.
Since his arrest, Dr Abu Safiya has still not been charged with any criminal offences. But Israeli authorities continue to detain him as they investigate what they call alleged links to Hamas. On June 16, 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal for his release after reviewing confidential evidence that was not disclosed to either Dr Abu Safiya or his legal team. His lawyer and human rights organisations criticised the ruling, arguing that it denied him due process.
While his detention has remained a focus of legal challenges, Dr Abu Safiya’s case has also become a symbol of the wider targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system.
Dr Abu Safiya became widely recognised in late 2024, as his videos appealing for medication in northern Gaza circulated online during the 85-day siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital imposed by the IDF. He became one of the most recognisable faces of Gaza’s healthcare crisis after refusing to abandon patients despite repeated Israeli evacuation orders, issuing repeated appeals for medicine, fuel and international intervention throughout the siege.
During this period, he became a prominent voice documenting the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, often challenging the Israeli Government’s account of events. His public appeals made him one of the most prominent witnesses to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure, drawing international attention to both his treatment and the broader conditions faced by medical workers in the territory.
United Nations experts have consistently demanded his release, citing what they describe as the “severe torture” inflicted upon him by Israeli forces.
In response to Dr Abu Safiya’s imprisonment and deteriorating health, they said, “We have repeatedly stressed that this violates human rights and humanitarian law.
“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.”
Amnesty International has also criticised Israel’s detention of healthcare workers, saying, “We call for an end to the unlawful detention and mistreatment of medical personnel, and for full accountability for those responsible.” Human rights organisations have warned that Dr Abu Safiya’s case reflects a wider pattern affecting Palestinian medical personnel detained during the war.
Dr Abu Safiya is not the only Palestinian healthcare worker to have been arrested since the start of the conflict in Gaza, which United Nations experts have described as a genocide. Reuters has reported that he is among at least 14 doctors from Gaza who have been detained by Israel without charge for more than a year. More than 100 doctors and other healthcare workers are currently being held by Israel under its Unlawful Combatants Law.
Midnight Adams is an independent journalist
[Photo: Palestinian artist Abu Karsheli painted a portrait of Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya on the rubble of the Italian Tower, which was destroyed in Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine, on June 27, 2026. The artwork aims to draw attention to the situation of Dr. Abu Safiya, who was detained by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in December 2024 and is known to be held in solitary confinement at Nafha Prison. Photojournalist : Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/AA]
