A prominent Palestinian paediatrician detained without charge by Israel since late 2024 has alleged he faces persistent physical abuse, threats, and cruel treatment at the hands of his Israeli custodians, according to accounts shared by his legal representative and human rights advocates.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the former medical director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, told his lawyer during a recent visit that Israeli guards have repeatedly beaten him across multiple areas of his body—including sensitive regions—using their hands, feet, and batons. The mistreatment does not end with physical violence: Abu Safiya also reported that guards deliberately disrupt his sleep overnight with constant noise and repeated public announcements, a deliberate tactic to inflict psychological distress. He added that the assault took place shortly before his lawyer’s most recent meeting, and that guards have explicitly threatened him against disclosing the horrific conditions of his detention to outside parties.
Abu Safiya was taken by Israeli forces in December 2024 and has remained in custody without any formal charges or trial. He is being held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, a piece of legislation that independent United Nations human rights experts have long ruled violates core tenets of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Back in July 2026, a group of UN special rapporteurs—including leading rights experts Francesca Albanese, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Morris Tidball-Binz, and Ben Saul—issued an urgent call demanding Israel immediately release Abu Safiya and all other healthcare workers being held in arbitrary detention. The experts argued that Abu Safiya’s ongoing detention without due process is not an isolated incident, but rather a reflection of a systematic Israeli campaign targeting Palestinian medical personnel and dismantling Gaza’s already fragile healthcare system. In their statement, they warned that this deliberate targeting is designed to impose conditions that would lead to the collective physical and mental destruction of the Palestinian people living in Gaza.
The allegations of ongoing abuse have renewed international calls for action, with public health and human rights advocates adding their voices to the demand for Abu Safiya’s immediate release. Dr. James Smith, a lecturer in Humanitarian Policy & Practice at University College London and an emergency physician who completed volunteer deployments in Gaza in both 2023 and 2024, published an op-ed earlier this July repeating the urgent call for Abu Safiya’s liberation, a call shared publicly by independent outlet Middle East Eye on July 9, 2026.
Physicians for Human Rights, the organization that confirmed the details of Abu Safiya’s account alongside his legal team, has echoed the UN experts’ demands, highlighting that the abuse of a detained healthcare worker represents a fundamental violation of international law that protects medical personnel and detainees in conflict zones. The case continues to draw international scrutiny over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees and its targeting of Gaza’s health infrastructure amid the ongoing regional crisis.