A UN working group on arbitrary detention has called on Israel to immediately release Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who has been held by the Israeli authorities since December 2024 during its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Abu Safiya, a 52-year-old pediatrician, was the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza until he was abducted by Israeli forces accusing him of belonging to Hamas—an allegation denied by both Gaza’s Health Ministry and Hamas itself.
The UN working group, comprising five independent experts, said in a statement issued Monday that Israel’s actions violate several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Meanwhile, Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said his client’s health is in “tangible danger,” according to The Guardian. Having visited him several times since his detention, Odeh said the person he met during his latest visit last week at Israel’s notorious underground Rakefet prison “was not the same person I had met before.”
According to Odeh, Abu Safiya’s “physical and psychological state, the severe injuries visible on his body, and his personal testimony leave no room for doubt: his life is in immediate danger.” He added that Abu Safiya had difficulty breathing and speaking continuously, was so weak that he struggled to sit upright, and repeatedly appeared on the verge of losing consciousness.
The UN Working Group said Israel has yet to respond to its request, submitted in July last year, to “clarify the factual and legal grounds” for Abu Safiya’s detention.
Last month, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal seeking Abu Safiya’s release. He is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Act, which allows the indefinite detention of suspects.
Following the ruling, Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights, said the court claimed its decision was based on “secret materials” that neither Abu Safiya nor his defense team had been allowed to review or challenge. The Supreme Court’s spokesperson declined to comment on the ruling.
Abbas criticized the legal process, saying the message conveyed by the decision was “clear and unequivocal”: that a doctor can be deprived of his liberty indefinitely without being charged and without the authorities presenting any evidence against the detainee in an open hearing.
Supporters of Abu Safiya held a demonstration on Wednesday in Milan, Italy, carrying Palestinian flags, banners condemning the ongoing war and blockade on Gaza, and photographs of Abu Safiya, while chanting slogans calling for his immediate release.
The demonstrators called on the Italian government to pressure Israel to halt its military operations and release Palestinian prisoners.
