In response to an official request submitted by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Israel on behalf of his family to arrange a lawyer’s visit for him, “Mashlat” – the body responsible for coordinating with the army regarding the location of detainees and prisoners from the occupied Gaza Strip – stated that they have no indication of his arrest or detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Despite clear documentation of his arrest, the Israeli army officially stated on Thursday, January 3, that “it has no indication of the arrest or detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital Director.”
Footage from “Al Jazeera”
On December 27, 2024, military forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, surrounded the building, and arrested Dr. Abu Safiya. In a video recording, the senior doctor is seen walking toward an armored military vehicle and is taken from there for interrogation. On that same day, the army spokesperson confirmed that he was arrested and transferred for questioning, but since then, his whereabouts have entirely vanished. Unfortunately, the court gave the state one week to respond regarding the hospital director’s location.
According PHR, since October 2023, Israel has arrested thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including 230 doctors. The whereabouts and fate of many remain unknown, and requests for their location remain unanswered for many months. In some cases, only thanks to the persistence of human rights organizations, information has been provided regarding the whereabouts of some of the missing. In some cases, it was revealed that the missing individuals died while in military or prison service custody.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) expressed also on Thursday increasing concerns over the safety of Dr. Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamala Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who was detained by Israeli forces during a raid on the hospital on December 27, particularly following the Israeli army’s denial of possessing any record of his detention. In a statement, the PPS stressed that Dr. Abu Safiya’s case is one of thousands of Gaza detainees’ cases subjected to the crime of enforced disappearance.
PPS added that despite clear evidence of Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention, the Israeli occupation denied their previous statements and dismissed the existence of evidence, such as the videos and photos that were shared and the testimonies of detainees who were released. Three doctors from Gaza, identified as Iyad al-Rantisi, Adnan al-Barsh, and Ziad al-Dalu were killed while in Israeli custody since the Israeli aggression on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.
PPS held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for Dr. Abu Safiya’s fate. It reiterated its call for the international human rights system to salvage any remaining credibility of its role in the face of the ongoing genocide.
Israeli occupation forces continued Thursday their aggression on several hospitals in the Gaza Strip. WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli forces set fire to several shelters and homes near the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and bulldozed the hospital’s wall. They also shelled Al-Awda Hospital in Tel Zaatar in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Fire also broke out around Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan, and Indonesian hospitals in northern Gaza due to the ongoing shelling and the fires set by the occupation forces around these hospitals.
WAFA correspondent quoted 23 people, including patients and medical staff trapped inside the Indonesian Hospital, stating that they were facing the risk of starving to death due to the lack of food and water in the hospital.
In addition, on Thursday, eight members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee called on the defense minister to order the destruction of all sources of water, food and energy in northern Gaza to ensure Hamas’ defeat, amid international criticism of Israel’s continued massacre in the Gaza Strip.
Demanding the army “purge northern Gaza of residents” by use of sieges, infrastructure destruction and ‘killing anyone without a white flag.’ The policy should be used in other parts of Gaza, they said. The eight MKs are members of the Likud, Shas, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism from the far-right coalition parties.
In response, MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash), said, “The coalition’s rank-and-file fanatics are not satisfied with the level of destruction in Gaza. Eight members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee from the extreme-right coalition are demanding more aggressive destruction in Gaza, and specifically ask for the total annihilation of all sources of food and water. This genocidal incitement is not just talk. The Israeli government and army are reacting to criticism from the right with intensification of violence.”
According to Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, “This is a blatant plea of Israeli lawmakers to commit inhumane war crimes and genocide. Forever, for eternity, these politicians should be damned as a foul stain on humanity at large, and Judaism in particular.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32356
