Syed

Physicians for Human Rights Israel has warned that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, is now in immediate danger of being killed in Israeli occupation custody. His lawyer, Nasser Odeh, who visited him on 2 July at the underground Rakefet interrogation facility inside Nitzan Prison, said he barely recognized him. Dr. Abu Safiya was brought in shackled hand and foot, flanked by masked guards, his head, eyes, ears and neck covered in fresh injuries. He struggled to breathe and speak, could not sit upright without nearly collapsing, and seemed close to losing consciousness, too frightened to speak freely. He told his lawyer that after his Supreme Court appeal was heard in June, guards entered his solitary cell and beat him with a hammer and batons, and that since his transfer to Rakefet on 24 June he has been beaten daily to the point of repeatedly losing consciousness, with no medical care. He said plainly: this is the last time you will see me, they brought me here to kill me. Held since December 2024 under the occupation's "Unlawful Combatants" law, without charge or trial, Dr. Abu Safiya saw his beatings escalate sharply only after he legally challenged his detention, and both his lawyer and PHRI are demanding his immediate transfer, an independent medical examination and his release, warning that any delay could cost him his life.