Campaign Adds Detained Director to Witness List
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the paediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been added to the Stand As My Witness campaign by CIVICUS and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI), joining calls for the release of 14 detained Gaza doctors, Civicus reported. Israeli forces detained Dr Abu Safiya on 27 December 2024 after he stayed with his patients through attacks, evacuation orders, and severe medicine shortages. He has since been held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, largely in solitary confinement and without adequate healthcare.
Supreme Court Upholds Detention of Dr Abu Safiya
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel and his lawyer report repeated severe assaults and a serious decline in the doctor’s health during his detention. In June 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld his detention until at least October. The UN Human Rights Office urged in July 2026 that he be released immediately, or alternatively given formal charges and a fair trial alongside an urgent transfer to a civilian hospital. According to the United Nations, at least 13 other senior Palestinian doctors from Gaza are also detained without charge.
Dr Abu Safiya’s case has become emblematic of what Palestinian healthcare workers in occupied Gaza are facing. But he is one of many,
said Asma Darwish, Stand As My Witness Campaign Lead at CIVICUS. Behind his name are at least 13 other doctors deprived of their liberty without charge or trial. Their cases must not become invisible.
Impact on Gaza Health System
The removal of medical personnel creates shortages across Gaza’s health infrastructure, reducing the workforce available to deliver babies, perform surgery, treat children, and train new medical staff. PHRI states that hundreds of healthcare workers have been arrested since the war began, with many subjected to enforced disappearance, beatings, and other forms of ill-treatment. These targeted arrests could constitute grave breaches of international law, and might qualify as crimes against humanity if they form part of a systematic or widespread assault on the civilian population.
Protecting healthcare workers is not a privilege; it is an obligation under international law,
said Naji Abbas of PHRI’s Detainees & Prisoners Department. Doctors must be able to care for patients without fear of arrest, disappearance, torture or retaliation.
Demands for Independent Access
Dr Abu Safiya, the 13 other incarcerated physicians, and every arbitrarily detained Palestinian health worker are calling on CIVICUS and PHRI to be freed straight away without conditions. Until their release, the organizations insist that Israeli authorities must protect detainees from torture and ill-treatment, guarantee independent medical care, and provide meaningful access to lawyers and families. They also call for the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent monitors to be granted unhindered access to the detention facilities.
Why Israeli Forces Detained Dr Hussam Abu Safiya?
Why was Dr Hussam Abu Safiya detained?
Israeli forces detained Dr Abu Safiya on 27 December 2024 from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, where he worked as a paediatrician and director. He has since been held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law without formal charges or trial.
How many Palestinian doctors from Gaza are currently detained?
According to United Nations figures, at least 13 other senior Palestinian doctors from Gaza are detained alongside Dr Abu Safiya without charge, while human rights organizations report that hundreds of healthcare workers have been arrested overall since the war began.
What does the Stand As My Witness campaign do?
Launched by CIVICUS in 2020, the Stand As My Witness campaign highlights human rights defenders who are arbitrarily imprisoned or persecuted for their peaceful work, mobilising international solidarity for their protection and release.
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