Gaza Health Chief Urges Action to Save Detained Doctor Abu Safia

Detention Without Charge Since December 2024

Dr Hussam Abu Safia was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in northern Gaza. He led the hospital through an 85-day siege before Israeli forces raided it and detained him on December 27, 2024.

He has since been held without charge under Israel's unlawful combatant law, which allows indefinitely renewable detention. In June, Israel's supreme court rejected an appeal for his release. His lawyer, who visited him last month, reported new signs of beatings and torture. Rights organisations including Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry have warned that his life is in imminent danger.

Al-Boursh described the "irony" of Abu Safia's detention as "agonising," noting that the doctor "who stayed by his patients' side at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the bleakest of circumstances, now finds himself behind bars, stripped of his freedom."

Gaza's Health Sector in Sharp Decline

The appeal comes amid a severe deterioration of Gaza's health system. Al Jazeera correspondents reported that Israeli-controlled "yellow" zones now cover more than 70 percent of the Strip, confining Palestinians to less than 30 percent of the territory, most of which lies in ruins.

Crossings remain largely closed, with around 20,000 patients awaiting evacuation for treatment abroad. Of the 600 aid trucks that should enter daily, fewer than 250 are arriving. Nasser Hospital in Deir al-Balah has reported three to four patients dying each day due to shortages of medicines and medical supplies. Last week, Israeli forces destroyed a medical supply warehouse serving nearly half a million people in a direct strike near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories, said Gaza's health system was among the hardest hit and warned that "it will take generations" for Palestinians to recover from the trauma and loss.

Mounting Casualties and Ongoing Operations

On Saturday, three Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire north of Khan Younis, while extensive demolition operations continued south of the city. Gaza's Health Ministry reported that hospitals received two people who had died of their wounds and six injured in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll since the October ceasefire to 1,257 with 4,131 wounded. In total, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.

Al-Boursh's appeal for Abu Safia now places pressure on international bodies to secure access to the detained doctor and verify his condition before his health deteriorates further.