Gaza Herald- Today marks one full year since the Israeli occupation army arrested Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, in one of the most prominent cases symbolizing the targeting of the Palestinian healthcare system during the genocidal war on Gaza.
On December 27, 2024, Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, which at the time was the last functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, and arrested its director, Dr. Abu Safiya, along with members of the medical staff and patients receiving treatment inside the hospital, an incident that sparked widespread outrage and condemnation.
Throughout the months of war, Abu Safiya emerged as a powerful symbol of medical and humanitarian resilience, continuing to manage the hospital tirelessly amid relentless bombardment, siege, and the near-total collapse of Gaza’s healthcare sector. He bore witness to the systematic targeting of hospitals, the depletion of medical supplies, and the suffering and deaths of patients under the weight of the assault.
Despite the personal tragedy he endured following the killing of his son in an Israeli airstrike, Abu Safiya refused to abandon his post, persisting in providing medical care to children and the wounded, affirming that humanitarian duty does not cease even under the harshest conditions.
Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested while performing his medical duties and caring for patients, reflecting a broader pattern of targeting healthcare workers that has affected dozens of doctors, nurses, and paramedics since the start of the assault. Israeli authorities denied him access to legal counsel for more than a month, with his first lawyer’s visit taking place only on February 11, 2025.
According to testimony from a lawyer who visited him at Ofer military prison in early July 2025, Abu Safiya and other Palestinian detainees were subjected to assaults and beatings inside the prison. The lawyer also noted signs of severe weight loss on the doctor, amid ongoing policies by the Israeli Prison Service imposing harsh restrictions on detainees’ access to food, adequate medical care, and basic hygiene supplies.
Human rights organizations stress that the conditions of Abu Safiya’s detention constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, particularly given his arrest as a protected medical professional while carrying out his humanitarian duties, within the context of a systematic assault on Gaza’s healthcare sector.
One year after his arrest, the case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya remains a living testimony to the price paid by healthcare workers in Gaza, and to a policy of collective punishment that spares no one, even those who devoted their lives to saving others—in one of the deadliest wars the Gaza Strip has ever endured.
