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Urgent Action: Release paediatrician and hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya

129 days left to demand change

On 27 December 2024, the Israeli military raided Kamal Adwan hospital in Mashrou’ Beit Lahiya and arbitrarily detained its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, along with other medical staff and patients. On 28 April, an Israeli court, once again, extended Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention under the Unlawful Combatant Law without filing any charges against him.

The December 2024 raid not only forced the last major functioning medical facility in North Gaza governorate out of service, but also silenced one of the most prominent voices highlighting the decimation of Gaza’s healthcare sector.

During Israel’s military campaign and its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers without charges or trial. Health workers have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, held in detention or subjected to conditions amounting to enforced disappearance.

The destruction of Gaza’s health sector is a key tactic in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. Some of the tools currently used by Israel’s military as they commit genocide have been provided by the US software company, Palantir. In 2023, NHS England awarded a £330 million contract to Palantir to provide a new data platform. Due to its role in human rights abuses, including the ongoing genocide, Amnesty’s message is clear – No Palantir in our NHS.

We stand in solidarity with Palestinian healthcare workers and patients who continue to endure unimaginable violence, and we demand accountability for the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system. We call for an end to the unlawful detention and mistreatment of medical personnel, and for full accountability for those responsible.

Demand the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all detained health workers now.

Download the full Urgent Action here.

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Target: Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir

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Dear Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir,

I am writing to you to demand the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, a paediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the occupied Gaza Strip, who was arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared by Israeli forces on 27 December 2024, along with other hospital staff and patients, following a deadly raid on the hospital, which put it out of service.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, 51, has for months acted as one of the most prominent voices of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector, providing comprehensive and reliable information about the healthcare situation in the North Gaza governorate, particularly since Israeli forces laid a near-total siege to the area since 6 October 2024. He continued to bear witness and treat children despite the killing of his son in October 2024.

Testimonies collected by Amnesty International and other human rights groups reveal a dreadful reality inside Israeli prisons and detention centres, where Palestinian detainees, including health workers, face systematic torture and other ill-treatment and are denied their right to a fair trial and due process, along with access to adequate food and medical care. In light of this, and the ongoing failure of Israeli authorities to grant independent monitors access to detention centres, we are extremely concerned for the life and wellbeing of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.

By arresting him arbitrarily, refusing to disclose his whereabouts and refusing to grant him access to legal counsel, Israeli forces committed serious violations of international law, including the crime of enforced disappearance.

Therefore, I urge you to secure the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and all other Palestinians, including health workers, forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained by Israel. Pending Dr Hussam Abu Safiya’s release, I urge you to disclose his whereabouts and ensure his protection from all forms of torture and other ill-treatment, including coercion. Also pending his release, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya must be granted access to legal counsel and adequate medical care while in detention.

Your information will be held by Amnesty International UK Section and Amnesty International UK Section Charitable Trust. We will never sell or swap your personal information with anyone else. For campaign petitions, we may display your first name and last name on the petition when we hand it in to the individual or group to whom it is addressed. Read more about how we use your information at amnesty.org.uk/privacy-notice.

Demand the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all detained health workers now.

Download the full Urgent Action here.