GENEVA: Gaza doctor release calls grew Wednesday as a UN inquiry urged Israel to free Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry said Abu Safiya had been held in Israel since the Israeli military seized him in Gaza in December 2024.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel said Abu Safiya remained in detention without charge. Rights groups and his lawyer said his life was in imminent danger because of his medical condition.
The UN inquiry said reported actions by Israeli Prison Service guards toward Palestinian detainees raised grave concerns under international law. It said Abu Safiya’s medical condition was the direct result of those actions.
An Israeli Prison Service spokesperson denied the allegations on Wednesday and called the claims false and without factual basis.
The prison service did not name Abu Safiya in the response, it had previously rejected mistreatment allegations involving him and other doctors.
Abu Safiya’s lawyer alleged Monday that his health was in danger and that guards had subjected him to daily abuse.
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The doctor appeared by video link at a Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem in June and looked visibly thinner.
A separate UN rights body called Abu Safiya’s detention arbitrary Monday and urged his immediate release.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Israel’s actions breached the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
