Amnesty International is “extremely concerned over the fate & wellbeing of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital who was detained by Israeli forces along with others during a raid on the hospital on 27 December. He must be released immediately and unconditionally.”
According to Amnesty, “For months Dr. Abu Safiya has been the voice of Gaza’s decimated health sector, appealing for the protection of his hospital and working under inhumane conditions, including following the killing of his son. The raid, the latest in a series of attacks on healthcare facilities in North Gaza over the past two months, put Kamal Adwan, the last remaining major hospital in the area, out of service. Since the beginning of its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has detained hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers from Gaza without charge or trial. Health workers have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and been held in incommunicado detention.”
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR) petitioned last week Israel’s Supreme Court, demanding an end to ongoing attacks on the hospital, the establishment of humanitarian corridors, and the delivery of essential supplies, and issuing an interim order to cease the attacks immediately. However, the court refused to take immediate action, leaving Kamal Adwan, its staff and patients under the deadly attacks.
On Thursday the Israeli bombings killed dozens of Palestinians in the hospital’s area, including 3 medical staff and 2 paramedics, according to Palestinian Ministry of Health. This morning, around 7 AM, according to testimonies from the hospital, Israeli forces surrounded Kamal Adwan Hospital, demanding the hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, gather all patients, injured, and staff within 15 minutes before threatening to cut off communication. Around 350 people were reportedly present at the hospital during the raid, including 75 patients and 180 medical staff and workers. All communications have been lost with the hospital and the medical staff.
On Sunday, PHR sent an additional request to the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing on the petition, to issue an interim order, and to do the only right thing: stop the attacks on the hospital and save the lives of the Palestinians who have nowhere else to go. “This escalation follows months of relentless violence. Since October 2024, we have witnessed Israel carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza. Thousands of people have been cut off from the outside world, struggling to survive amid continuous assaults and severe shortages of food, water, medicine, and infrastructure, with their future uncertain,” they added. “Israel’s war crimes in northern Gaza have long shattered every red line, representing a deliberate and systematic campaign of destruction targeting the healthcare system and everything that sustains life. Meanwhile, the international community’s inexcusable paralysis and hollow condemnations has enabled Israel’s unchecked war machine. Palestinians in other areas of Gaza and the West Bank watch this unfold with justified fear, knowing their fate could be similar in the near future.”
“We urge all organizations, both local and international, to closely follow these devastating developments and join the fight to save thousands of lives. Take to the streets in protest, contact elected officials, and support humanitarian organizations providing aid to the victims of this war. We must not and will not accept a reality where an entire population is forced to beg for its most basic needs,” PHR added.
Over the past 24 hours, Israeli occupation forces committed three massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of at least 27 Palestinians and the injury of 149 others, according to medical reports. Local health authorities confirmed that the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli onslaught since October 7, 2023, has risen to 45,541 reported fatalities, with an additional 108,338 individuals sustaining injuries. Most of the victims are women and children.
According to the same sources, emergency services are still unable to reach many casualties and dead bodies trapped under the rubble or scattered on roads across the war-torn enclave, as Israeli occupation forces continue to obstruct the movement of ambulance and civil defense crews.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32258
