There were calls for the release of Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital imprisoned on Saturday along with dozens of others from the Israeli military during a raid on the facility in northern Gaza.
Concern is growing for the safety of Abu Sufia, whose whereabouts remain unknown since he was held in the last barely functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, which was destroyed by relentless Israeli bombing during a weeks-long military siege of the area.
MedGlobal, a humanitarian NGO that provides health care in disaster zones, has called for Abu Safia’s immediate release, while the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “appalled” by the raid on the hospital.
The last image of Abu Safia that was widely shared on social media showed him walking toward an Israeli tank near Kamal Adwan Hospital burned down by Israeli forces during Friday’s violent raid.
The Israeli military said Saturday that Abu Safia was being held for questioning on suspicion of “being a Hamas terrorist.” More than 240 people were arrested on the hospital grounds.
Since October 6, Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have focused on the north, where the military says its land and air offensive is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.
Location unknown
Zaher Sahloul, MedGlobal’s president, said in a statement that Abu Safia’s arrest was “unjust and a violation of international humanitarian law.”
“His arrest is not only unjust – it also violates international humanitarian law, which ensures the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones. MedGlobal urgently calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abu (Safia).”
Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said Abu Safia was considered a human rights defender by Front Line Defenders, an Ireland-based organization that works to protect people who are “at risk to their peaceful and legitimate human rights work.”
The raid was also the last at a hospital during the year Warin which Israel targeted health complexes.
“The systematic dismantling of the health system and an 80-day siege in the northern Gaza Strip are endangering the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the region,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
Dr. Ali Elaydi, an orthopedic surgeon originally from Gaza, says Israel’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital and the arrest of Dr. Abu Safia aimed to drive the north of the enclave from its residents.
“It essentially deprives the entire population of northern Gaza of any sustainable medical care. I believe that this is really the intention to drive people out of northern Gaza,” Elaydi told Al Jazeera from the US city of Dallas.
“It’s systematic. (The Israelis) decided that they (the Palestinians in northern Gaza) would have to be evacuated without medical care.”
“It’s a warning to every other doctor not to advocate for their patients.”
On Friday, Hamas rejected Israel’s claim that its fighters operated from the hospital throughout the year 15-month Gaza warsaid there were no militants in the hospital.
The WHO said the remaining 15 critical patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers from Kamal Adwan Hospital were transferred on Friday to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which it described as “destroyed and non-functional.”
It said the WHO would carry out an urgent mission to the Indonesian hospital on Sunday, including to bring critical patients to Gaza City.
Assassination of Adnan al-Bursh
Abu Safia, a pediatrician by training, has refused multiple Israeli orders to evacuate Kamal Adwan Hospital.
He was briefly arrested and released when Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan in late October.
During the same operation, Israeli forces killed Abu Safia’s son Ibrahim in a drone strike on the hospital gate.
Abu Safia was injured by shrapnel in another Israeli attack on the hospital on November 23, but continued his work and kept the world informed of developments at the hospital.
This is not the first time that Israeli forces have attacked a hospital and medical staff. Adnan al-Bursh, a prominent Palestinian orthopedic surgeon and head of orthopedics at al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest medical facility before its destruction, was killed allegedly due to torture in an Israeli prison.
He was working at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza in December when he and other medics were arrested by the Israeli army.
