UK healthcare workers: Foreign Secretary must act ‘publicly and forcefully’ to save tortured Gaza colleague

More than 800 doctors and medical professionals across the UK have signed an open letter to Yvette Cooper calling on her to urgently intervene to secure the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the Palestinian paediatrician and director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been arbitrarily detained by Israel without charge or trial since 27 December 2024.

The letter, coordinated by Amnesty International UK and Health Workers 4 Palestine, cites a 2 July prison visit by Nasser Odeh, a lawyer for Physicians for Human Rights Israel, who observed extensive bruises and torture marks across Dr Abu Safiya's head and body, leaving him barely recognisable, and described him as weak and on the verge of losing consciousness. Dr Abu Safiya reportedly told him: "This is the last time you'll see me… they brought me here to kill me."

The signatories warn that Dr Abu Safiya's case is not an isolated one: he is one of more than 400 healthcare workers arbitrarily detained by Israel since October 2023, 83 of whom remain held, and say they fear he could meet the same fate as Dr Adnan Al-Bursh and other doctors killed in Israeli custody.

The letter states that Israel's detention of healthcare workers forms part of a wider strategy to dismantle Gaza's healthcare system, alongside the killing of over 1,700 healthcare workers since October 2023 and the damage or destruction of every hospital in Gaza - conduct the signatories say is evidence of genocidal intent when considered alongside Israel's broader actions in Gaza.

The letter calls on the UK government to:

1. Publicly demand the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and use all economic, political, and diplomatic tools at its disposal to secure his release.
2. Pending his release, demand that he be granted immediate access to adequate medical care and independent monitors, including the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
3. Ensure accountability, including through supporting the International Criminal Court investigation and International Court of Justice investigations, for the arbitrary detention and killing of all Palestinian healthcare workers, which is a breach of international humanitarian law and in this instance evidence of genocide intent.

In the letter, signatories write: "As UK-based medical professionals, we are horrified at the targeting of our Palestinian friends and colleagues and the utter failure of the UK government to meaningfully hold Israel to account. It is too late for many of our Palestinian colleagues – but an urgent intervention now could save Dr Abu Safiya's life."

Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK's Chief Executive, said:

"Dr Hussam Abu Safiya is being tortured to the brink of death by Israeli forces - for the crime of refusing to abandon his patients. The UK government must act now, publicly and forcefully, to secure his immediate release - before it's too late."

Amira Nimerawi, CEO of Health Workers 4 Palestine, said:

“This is the news we’ve been dreading for 18 months. Dr Abu Safiya is being allowed to die slowly in an Israeli prison cell due to lack of political will to act consistently for him and hundreds of Palestinian health workers. This is not an accident. It is the result of a system of detention designed to break him. The UK government must demand his immediate release to hospital before it is too late.”

Dr Omar Abdel Mannan, Paediatrician, said:

“A paediatrician who refused to abandon his patients has been tortured to the brink of death in detention without charge. The Foreign Secretary has the power to act - she must publicly demand Dr Abu Safiya’s immediate release and back it with sanctions on Israel. Every day she doesn’t, his life hangs in the balance.”

Dr Abu Safiya's Supreme Court appeal against his detention was rejected on 16 June, extending his detention until at least October 2026. His son, Elias, has said his father is "living through critical moments between life and death," warning: "The world's silence today could mean the loss of an innocent human life."

804 healthcare workers have signed the letter. Signatories include:

1. Mark Boothroyd: GSTT nurse
2. Dr Khaled Dawas: UCLH consultant surgeon
3. Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini: Anaesthetist and Oxford-based activist/councillor
4. Dr Tim Goodacre: Senior Oxford plastic surgeon
5. Lynne Jones OBE: Child psychiatrist, humanitarian and author
6. Dr Asad Khan: Respiratory physician
7. Professor Ajit Lalvani FMedSci: Professor of Infectious Diseases at Imperial, TB researcher
8. Professor Arshad Majid: Sheffield professor of neurology
9. Professor Nick Maynard: Surgeon
10. Dr Michel Michaelides: Moorfields professor
11. Rachael Moses: NHS physiotherapist leader (OBE)
12. Dr Simon Opher MP: Sitting Labour MP (Stroud) and GP
13. Professor Najib Rahman: Oxford Professor of Respiratory Medicine, leading pleural disease researcher
14. Karen Reissmann: Mental health nurse and trade union activist
15. Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah: Associate Professor of Surgery and a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon
16. Dr Jeffrey Tobias: UCLH honorary consultant in clinical oncology
17. Dr Philippa Whitford: Retired breast surgeon and former SNP MP
18. Professor Andrew Wilkinson: emeritus Oxford professor of paediatrics/neonatology
19. Professor Sameer Zuberi: Glasgow paediatric neurologist, major international figure in epilepsy classification and Dravet syndrome