Doctor Hossam Abou Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, is being held in 'inhumane' conditions by Israel and subjected to 'physical and psychological intimidation,' according to his lawyer who spoke to AFP.

Aged 52, this pediatrician gained notoriety during the Israeli offensive in northern Gaza by bearing witness on social media to the plight of the sick, injured, and displaced in his hospital. He refused to evacuate his facility in Beit Lahia despite warnings from the Israeli army.

On December 27, Israeli forces stormed the hospital, calling it a 'terrorist center' of Hamas. Dozens of medical staff were arrested, including Abou Safiya, accused of being a member of Hamas, the group responsible for the unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct.7, 2023, which triggered the offensive in Gaza.

The physician's case has been classified as 'confidential' by the military prosecutor's office, which has barred the defense from accessing it. However, his lawyer, Ghaid Qassem, was able to visit him on March 19 in Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank. 'He is suffering greatly and is very exhausted from the torture, pressure, and humiliation he's endured to make him confess to acts he hasn't committed,' she says.

The Israeli army did not respond to AFP's requests for comment. After a stint at the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev Desert in southern Israel, Abou Safiya was transferred to Ofer prison.

'Harrowing reality'

His 'ordeal' began at Sde Teiman where he underwent four interrogations 'with beatings, mistreatment, and torture' before being held for 25 days in a small cell at Ofer, where he was also extensively interrogated, the lawyer asserts. Israeli authorities have labeled him as an 'unlawful combatant' for an indefinite period, she says.

Adopted in 2002, the Israeli law on 'unlawful combatants' allows the detention of alleged members of 'hostile forces' outside the usual legal frameworks. It was amended after the onset of the war in Gaza, according to Adalah, the Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

Amnesty International has called for his release, citing testimonies of the "harrowing reality" in Israeli prisons, where Palestinian detainees — including healthcare professionals — undergo "systematic acts of torture and other ill-treatment."

A social media mobilization campaign has gathered health organizations, personalities, and U.N. officials. On X, World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also called for his immediate release. Qassem is alarmed by her client's 'very concerning' health condition. 'He suffers from high blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia, vision problems,' she states. 'He has lost more than 20 kg in two months and fractured four ribs during interrogations without receiving care.'

Despite everything, Abou Safiya remains 'calm,' she says. But 'he wonders what crime he committed' to be imprisoned 'in inhumane conditions.'

'Moral duty'

According to the lawyer, his Israeli jailers 'ask him to confess to having operated on Hamas members or Israeli hostages, but he has not caved' and denies the accusations. As a pediatrician, 'everything he did was out of moral, professional, and human duty towards the patients and the injured,' she adds. She denounces restrictions on lawyer visits, who are not allowed to inform detainees about 'the war, the day, the hour, or their geographical location.'

Since Oct.7, 2023, around 5,000 Gazans have been arrested by Israel, with some released in exchange for hostages held by Hamas. They are generally accused of 'belonging to a terrorist organization' or representing 'a threat to Israel's security.' According to Qassem, many have been arrested without charges or trial, and lawyers often did not know where their clients were during the first months of the war. Her meeting with Abou Safiya, under close surveillance, lasted only 17 minutes.