Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the former director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Northern Gaza, is facing death as a result of extremely brutal torture. He was unlawfully arrested by the Israeli army on 27 December 2024 when his hospital, then one of the last remaining hospitals in Gaza, was ultimately destroyed after a month-long siege. He has since then spent more than 500 days in an Israeli prison without charge or trial.
There are serious concerns about Dr. Abu Safiya’s health after reports emerged that he has been subjected to severe torture. UN experts had already demanded his immediate release in March this year. Yet, he is still in prison, and his detention was recently extended despite the plea of the UN experts and various human rights organizations including Amnesty International. The concerns about his condition have now reached an alarming level with a harrowing account by the Palestinian medical staff who were released on 9 May from the same prison. The former detainees gave testimonies of the unprecedented process of “slow killing” that Dr. Abu Safiya is subjected to. Dr. Abu Safiya, who was once called “the mountain of the North” for his charisma and unwavering determination to protect his patients during the genocide, is now in a state of “daze” with his body and mind consumed by prolonged brutal torture. Urgent action is needed to save him. His life now hangs by a thread.
His colleagues describe the “torture beyond imagination” designed to break the “resilience of the Gaza health care system” that he embodied. His charismatic identity as the healer who stood firm when the Kamal Adwan hospital was under siege is the exact reason for the extreme brutality.
Take action NOW:
- contact your Members of the European Parliament and MPs with demand to speak out and call for his release, you can use this template email.
- share this graphic on social media with hashtag: #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya and tag the following people: @kajakallas, @vonderleyen, @EU_Commission, @KajsaOllongren,
- ask your representatives to share this graphic on social media and call for the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya
- sign and share this petition by Amnesty International