One year after his abduction by Israeli occupation forces, Palestinian pediatrician and hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya remains imprisoned without charge or trial, in what human rights advocates describe as a flagrant violation of international law and a stark example of Israel’s systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare sector.

Dr. Abu Safiya was seized on December 27, 2024, when Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza during an intense phase of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave. At the time, the hospital was one of the last remaining medical facilities still providing limited services to a population under relentless bombardment and siege.

A highly respected pediatrician and neonatologist, Dr. Abu Safiya served as the hospital’s director and consistently sounded the alarm about the catastrophic humanitarian conditions inside the facility. He spoke publicly about acute shortages of fuel, electricity, medicine, and medical staff, while continuing to treat sick and wounded children under constant threat of attack.

Despite repeated opportunities to evacuate, Dr. Abu Safiya refused to abandon his patients. He remained at the hospital until Israeli forces violently raided the compound, destroying sections of the facility, forcibly evacuating patients and staff, and detaining medical personnel in what rights groups have condemned as a war crime.

Dr. Abu Safiya was taken during the raid and has since disappeared into Israel’s detention system. No evidence has ever been presented to justify his arrest, and no formal charges or indictments have been issued. His detention is carried out under Israel’s so-called Unlawful Combatants Law, a draconian legal framework that allows for indefinite imprisonment without charge, trial, or due process.

His detention orders have been repeatedly renewed, including extensions reported in March and October 2025, without his lawyers or family being informed of any specific accusations. Legal observers say the law is routinely used to silence Palestinians and strip detainees of their most basic legal rights.

Reports from lawyers and human rights organizations paint a deeply alarming picture of Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition in detention. He has reportedly suffered severe weight loss and is enduring untreated medical issues, including high blood pressure and heart complications. He is also believed to be subjected to prolonged isolation, denial of adequate healthcare, and degrading detention conditions.

These conditions have raised urgent concerns over Israel’s blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law, particularly the protections afforded to medical personnel during armed conflict under the Geneva Conventions.

The one-year anniversary of Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention has reignited international calls for his immediate and unconditional release. Medical associations, human rights groups, and Palestine solidarity movements across Europe and beyond have organized protests, petitions, and public campaigns demanding an end to Israel’s persecution of Palestinian health workers.

Dr. Abu Safiya’s case is not an isolated one. He is among hundreds of Palestinian doctors, nurses, paramedics, and healthcare workers detained by Israeli forces since October 2023. Many have been held without charge, subjected to torture or abuse, or forcibly disappeared, accelerating the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system amid Israel’s ongoing assault.

Rights groups warn that the continued detention of Palestinian medical professionals represents a deliberate strategy to dismantle Gaza’s capacity to sustain life, further deepening an already unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. (ILKHA)