Victims are treated inside the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, following Israeli strikes around the medical complex on December 6, 2024, as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group continues. (Photo by AFP)
PALESTINIAN Territories – Israel’s raid on a major Gaza hospital and the arrest of its director over alleged links to Hamas have drawn global attention to the war-ravaged territory’s crumbling healthcare system.
For weeks, as fighting escalated around the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia area, its head Hossam Abu Safiyeh made desperate appeals to the international community to intervene and stop the violence “before it is too late”.
Article continues after this advertisementIn the early hours of Friday, the Israeli military launched a major raid on the hospital, describing it as “one of the largest operations” it had conducted since the war in Gaza broke out in October last year.
FEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION Honeymoons, birthdays, first foreign trips end in tragic plane crash GLOBALNATION Swiss cabin crew member dies after smoke forced emergency landing GLOBALNATION Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse caseThe raid ended a day later, with the military announcing that it killed more than 20 militants and arrested over 240, including Abu Safiyeh on suspicion of “being a Hamas operative”.
Since then, the whereabouts of the 51-year-old pediatrician have been unknown.
Article continues after this advertisementThe World Health Organization (WHO) has said Kamal Adwan hospital has been out of service ever since, a massive blow to the healthcare system in northern Gaza, where tens of thousands live under ongoing Israeli bombardment.
Article continues after this advertisementHis family believes he is being detained at the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev desert, near Gaza.
Article continues after this advertisement ‘Deadly attacks’“This detention centre is notorious for the mistreatment of prisoners,” his son, Idris Abu Safiyeh, said in a video message on Monday evening.
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“We have received testimonies from released detainees who reported that he was subjected to humiliation and abuse,” he said. “He was reportedly forced to strip”.
Article continues after this advertisementDespite repeated attempts by AFP, the Israeli military has declined to specify Abu Safiyeh’s location. It has also not responded to allegations of his abuse.
READ: Palestinians say Israeli strikes kill 45 in Gaza
Several other medical staff of Kamal Adwan Hospital were detained in the raid as well.
“There is no justification for these arrests other than a desire to destroy the healthcare system,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense agency, told AFP. He described the situation as “catastrophic and tragic.”
On Tuesday, a United Nations report revealed that Israeli strikes on and near hospitals in Gaza have led to the near total collapse of the healthcare system in the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.
“Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care,” the UN human rights office said in a statement.
‘Hero in a white robe’Israeli officials have repeatedly accused Hamas of using the territory’s hospitals as command and control centers for launching attacks against Israeli forces.
Abu Safiyeh’s family has urged the international community to pressure Israel for his prompt release — and their message has resonated.
The WHO led by its chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has called for the “immediate release” of the hospital director.
Rights group Amnesty International has echoed the call, saying Abu Safiyeh had been the “voice of Gaza’s decimated health sector”.
Healthcare professionals across the world have also urged for his release, rallying on social media under the hashtag #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya.
He was praised as a “hero in a white robe” in several social media posts for continuing his work amid an intense Israeli military campaign in northern Gaza.
Since October 6, Israeli forces have intensified their land and sea assault on northern Gaza, saying it was aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping there.
According to the US-based NGO MedGlobal, which employs him, Abu Safiyeh lost a teenage son in an Israeli air strike in late October, while he himself was injured in the leg days later.
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From a hospital bed, he, howeverjiliplus, declared in a video that the injury would not deter him from fulfilling his mission, “whatever the cost”.
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