GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Israel is preventing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the abducted director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, from meeting with a lawyer, according to a statement by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I) on Monday.
The Israeli-based rights group stated that it requested a lawyer to meet with Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who has not been seen publicly since he was kidnaped during an Israeli army raid late last month.
PHR-I said that the request was made to allow lawyer Nasser Odeh to assess Abu Safiya’s condition and the circumstances of his detention.
According to the organization, the Israeli army stated that Odeh, who regularly visits Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, would not be allowed to meet Abu Safiya until January 10.
Abu Safiya was kidnaped on December 27, 2024 along with medical staffers working in the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in addition to wounded patients and other civilians who were at the time inside the building in northern Gaza, with Amnesty International accusing Israel of “genocidal intent.”
Israeli forces deliberately set fire to the medical facility after besieging and bombing it for weeks, with reports that some medical personnel were burned alive.
