Israeli occupation authorities claimed on Friday that Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya holds the rank of colonel in Hamas, asserting that his arrest was based on “legal grounds.” They also denied reports of his deteriorating health in detention.
These Israeli claims come in the context of ongoing attempts to justify targeting and detaining medical personnel in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva said in a post on X that the Palestinian doctor was “lawfully detained by Israel based on credible intelligence,” claiming he was a colonel in Hamas.
She added, “At no stage of his detention did Abu Safiya show any indication of a serious health condition.”
This statement came after a UN investigation team and several UN human rights experts expressed concern about the issue this week.
Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, rose to prominence in 2024 after publishing information about the deteriorating conditions at the besieged hospital in Beit Lahia during the Israeli attack on it.
On December 27, 2024, Israeli forces launched a large-scale raid on the only remaining functioning health facility in the northern Gaza Strip, arresting dozens of its staff, including Abu Safiya, claiming that the hospital was a “terrorist center” affiliated with Hamas.
“The continued arbitrary detention of Dr. Abu Safieh without charge or trial reflects Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinian health workers,” four independent UN experts said in a statement Tuesday.
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories issued a separate statement on Wednesday, expressing its “grave concern about credible reports that Dr. Hussam Abu Safieh… has been subjected to continuous and severe violations” during his detention.
The committee called for his “immediate, unconditional and safe release,” and urged the Israeli authorities to provide him with immediate and independent medical care.
The commission of inquiry, which has previously accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, asserted that Abu Safiya’s mistreatment falls within a “broader pattern of violations.”
The Israeli mission rejected reports that Abu Safiya was being arbitrarily detained, saying he was running Kamal Adwan Hospital “as one of Hamas’s terrorist centers.”
She added in her statement that the doctor “exploited his position at the hospital to divert humanitarian resources intended for civilian needs to terrorist purposes.”
She emphasized that “his legal detention is subject to periodic administrative review and judicial oversight,” including by the Supreme Court last month, noting that “no evidence has been found to support the claims raised regarding his case.”
The statement noted that Abu Safiya “underwent a medical examination upon his arrival at the Nitzan detention center on June 24, 2026, and many times thereafter.”
He added that “he is still under continuous medical supervision and is receiving treatment according to what is decided by the competent medical staff.”
