JERUSALEM: An Israeli rights group said Thursday a prominent Gaza doctor and hospital director held in an Israeli jail has faced harsh mistreatment and medical neglect, warning his health is deteriorating.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) said Hossam Abu Safiyeh, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital until last year, was being kept in “harsh detention conditions” without legal proceedings.
Abu Safiyeh was detained after Israeli troops raided his hospital in December 2024.
The army later said he was suspected of “being a Hamas operative,” but has informed him of no charges, according to the group.
PHRI said its lawyer visited him Thursday at Ofer prison, north of Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, reporting that he had lost around 25 kilograms (55 pounds) since his arrest due to insufficient food.
The group also said he had been subjected to violence during cell searches and was denied treatment for scabies despite repeated requests.
Human rights groups have repeatedly warned of difficult conditions in Israeli jails including scabies outbreaks. Several NGOs petitioned Israel’s supreme court last year seeking to stop the spread of the contagious skin condition in jails.
PHRI further said that since March, Abu Safiyeh “has not been brought before a judge, has not been interrogated, and has received no information about the grounds for his detention.”
Israel’s prison service did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously called for the “immediate release” of the hospital director.
Rights group Amnesty International had echoed the call, saying Abu Safiyeh had been the “voice of Gaza’s decimated health sector.”
In August 2025, the WHO said it had documented 720 attacks on health care in Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023.
It said that at least 1,580 health workers were killed and an unknown number detained by Israel.
Israeli NGO raises alarm over jailed Gaza hospital chief’s health
https://arab.news/9ayye
Israeli NGO raises alarm over jailed Gaza hospital chief’s health
- PHRI said Hossam Abu Safiyeh, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital until last year, was being kept in “harsh detention conditions” without legal proceedings
- Its lawyer visited him Thursday at Ofer prison reporting that he had lost around 25 kilograms since his arrest due to insufficient food
Syria strongly condemns terrorist attack near Palmyra
- Palmyra in the Homs countryside witnessed an armed attack targeting a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces
DAMASCUS: Syria strongly condemned the terrorist attack that targeted a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces near the city of Palmyra on Saturday, extending its condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the US government and people, the Syrian News Agency reported.
Earlier, Palmyra in the Homs countryside witnessed an armed attack targeting a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces during a field tour in the area.
A gunman opened fire on the patrol, resulting in the deaths of two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter, in addition to injuring three US soldiers and two Syrian security personnel.
“Syria strongly condemns the terrorist attack that targeted a joint Syrian-US counterterrorism patrol near Palmyra. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and to the US government and people, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani said in a post on platform X.
