Report from ‘The Cradle’ news agency:
The condition of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital who was abducted by Israeli forces at the end of last year, has continued to deteriorate, his lawyer said on 14 July.
Abu Safia’s lawyer, Ghaida Qassem, said on Monday that the hospital director has lost around 40 kilograms since his abduction and detention by Israel, dropping from around 100 kilograms to 60 kilograms.
Israeli authorities have prevented Abu Safia from access to desperately needed medication and treatment, particularly for his condition of irregular heartbeats.
“He remains dressed in winter clothing under extreme conditions of starvation, torture, and complete isolation,” Qassem’s statement went on to say.
Abu Safia was abducted by Israeli troops on 27 December 2024 and taken to the Sde Teiman detention center, where Palestinians have been killed, tortured, and sexually assaulted.
He was detained with dozens of others during an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of many throughout the war. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, people were executed during the raid, including medical staff and displaced civilians who had been sheltering in the hospital. Israel claimed Abu Safia was a member of Hamas, and said it was investigating him.
In February 2025, his family announced on social media that he was facing “severe torture and mistreatment” at the hands of Israeli jailers, noting that he was being given only one “poor quality” meal per day.
At the time, they said the legal case against him was collapsing due to Israel’s failure to present credible evidence. They expressed hope that he would eventually be released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement.
The director is currently in an underground cell with no exposure to sunlight.
Israel has destroyed or severely damaged 36 hospitals across the Gaza Strip since the start of the genocidal war in October 2023, with airstrikes, shelling, and ground raids in the medical facilities carried out by troops.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said on 14 July that 360 medical personnel have been detained by Israel since the start of the war, calling for immediate intervention “to criminalize the occupation’s practices against detained medical personnel and pressure them to release them.”
“The medical personnel imprisoned in the occupation’s prisons are living under tragic and difficult conditions,” the statement added.
