ReutersIsrael has confirmed that it is detaining Gaza Hospital Director Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya after earlier informing a local NGO that it was unaware of his condition, raising concerns about his health.
The IDF statement said he was “currently being investigated by Israeli security forces” personally.
The statement did not provide an explanation for this confusion, but reiterated the suspicion that he is a “terrorist” and “holds a rank” in Hamas, the Palestinian armed group waging a war with Israel in Gaza.
Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested when the Israeli army forced patients and medical staff to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza last Friday, claiming that the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold.”
The Israeli military on Thursday told Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI) that it had “no indication that the person in question has been arrested or detained.”
PHRI submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice on Thursday, demanding that Dr. Abu Safiya's whereabouts be revealed. She said that the court gave the Israeli army a week to comply.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International head Agnes Callamard said Israeli authorities must “urgently reveal his whereabouts.”
She said Israel detained “hundreds of Palestinian health care workers from Gaza without charge or trial,” and said they were “subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and held incommunicado.”
Israel denies mistreatment of detainees.
Dr. Abu Safiya's family previously told BBC Arabic that they believe he is being held at the Sde Teman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces have taken many detainees from Gaza for interrogation.
The whistleblower had previously told the BBC and other international media Extremely harsh conditions for detainees there. Israel said all detainees there were being held “carefully and appropriately.”
Medical staff told the BBC that the Israeli army ordered everyone inside Kamal Adwan Hospital to leave last Friday morning, and gave the hospital about 15 minutes to transfer patients and staff to the courtyard.
Beit Lahia, where the hospital is located, has been subject to a tight Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October. The UN said the area was under an “almost complete siege” as the Israeli military imposed severe restrictions on aid shipments reaching the area, which is still inhabited by an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people.
ReutersThe Israeli army said on Saturday that it had arrested 240 fighters in Kamal Adwan and said that Dr. Abu Safiya was among the medical staff detained for questioning.
Video footage showed the young man walking towards an Israeli armored vehicle before he was taken for investigation. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the arrest the same day, saying the doctor had been taken for interrogation.
Dr. Abu Safiya was previously arrested by Israeli forces during a previous raid on the hospital in October, but he was released shortly afterwards. During that Israeli operation, Dr. Abu Safiya's 15-year-old son was killed in a drone airstrike. Footage taken later that day showed him leading the funeral prayer for his son in the hospital courtyard.
Israeli attacks on health care facilities in Gaza have drawn growing condemnation.
On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Office said that Israeli attacks on and around hospitals had increased Gaza's healthcare system is on 'the brink of total collapse' It raised serious concerns about war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Israeli mission in Geneva said that Israeli forces act in accordance with international law and will never target innocent civilians.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 45,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Strip's Ministry of Health.
