Warnings about the fate of Hussam Abu Safia after Israeli denial and calls for his release

The Palestinian Prisoners Club warned of the danger to the fate of Kamal Adwan Hospital Director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh, after the Israeli army denied the existence of a record proving his arrest, and calls for the occupation to release him increased.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said, “The case of Dr. Abu Safiya is one of thousands of Gaza detainees who face the crime of enforced disappearance.”

He explained that "despite the existence of clear evidence of the arrest of Dr. Abu Safiya on December 27, 2024, the occupation denies what he previously stated, and also denies the existence of evidence including photos and video clips that he published, in addition to the testimonies of some detainees who were released."

The club held the occupation authorities fully responsible for the fate of Dr. Abu Safiya. It renewed its demand for the international human rights system to save what remains of the meaning of its role in the face of the war of extermination, after its role was eroded due to the terrifying state of helplessness.

Amid the ongoing Israeli massacres in northern Gaza, the name of Dr. Abu Safiya shone as a symbol of humanity and steadfastness in the face of the genocide that the Strip has been subjected to for about 15 months.

Fears of liquidating Hossam Abu Safia

For his part, the Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Munir Al-Barsh, said that there is fear that the Israeli occupation will liquidate the Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, after he denied the existence of any detainee with that name.

Al-Barsh explained - in an interview with Al Jazeera - that the occupation denied the existence of a detainee with this name, in response to an official request submitted by the Ministry of Health through the Physicians for Human Rights organization to reveal the location of Abu Safiya.

The Israeli occupation army broadcast a video documenting the moment of arresting Dr. Abu Safiya, the medical staff and the patients, after storming Kamal Adwan Hospital and burning it in the northern Gaza Strip.

CNN quoted Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip - who were recently released by the occupation army - as saying that Abu Safiya is being held in the notorious Sde Teiman military base, which Israel uses as a detention center.

However, Abu Safiya's son later denied the rumors that his father was in Ofer or "Sidi Teiman" prison, stressing that they do not know his father's location or fate yet.

Al-Barash revealed a few days ago that Abu Safiya was severely beaten with batons and sticks by the occupation forces, who forced him to take off his clothes and dress him in prisoner clothes, noting that the occupation used him as a human shield.

Demands for release

For her part, two UN rapporteurs renewed, on Thursday, their demand for the release of the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia, who was arrested by the Israeli occupation army about a week ago.

This came in a joint statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.

In their statement, Mofokeng and Albanese stressed the need to end Israel's current assault on Gaza, especially on medical facilities, on the one hand, and to ensure the release of Abu Safiya and all health workers arbitrarily detained, on the other hand.

"We are deeply concerned about the fate of Abu Safia, another doctor who was abducted and arbitrarily detained by the occupation forces, this time for defying evacuation orders and (refusing) to leave his patients and colleagues," the statement added.

The closure of Kamal Adwan Hospital is "part of an Israeli strategy aimed at completely evacuating the northern Gaza Strip of civilians," and Israeli media quoted the army as confirming that it would not allow the hospital to reopen.

Source: Agencies + Al Jazeera