GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), UN experts and human rights groups are continuing to warn of the deteriorating health of detained Palestinian doctors Hussam Abu Safiya and Marwan Al-Hams inside Israeli prisons, amid growing calls for their immediate release and access to urgent medical care.
UN experts called on Israeli authorities to immediately release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, along with all health and medical workers, who are being arbitrarily detained in Israeli jails.
They said Abu Safiya’s continued detention without charge or trial reflects Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinian health workers and the continued destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, creating conditions that threaten Palestinians physically and psychologically.
The experts said Israel unlawfully detained Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, along with medical staff and patients, under the so-called Unlawful Combatants Law, expressing concern over whether the law and its amendments comply with international humanitarian and human rights law.
They warned that reports of severe torture, combined with recent information suggesting Abu Safiya’s injuries could place his life at imminent risk, require Israel to ensure he receives immediate and adequate medical care.
Abu Safiya was arrested by Israeli forces on December 27, 2024, during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital while the facility was still operating under wartime conditions. He suffers from chronic illnesses, including heart problems and high blood pressure, and his health has reportedly deteriorated in detention.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners said detained doctor Marwan Al-Hams faces a worsening health crisis in Israeli prisons, amid the denial of heart medication, starvation, isolation, and a ban on contact with his family.
The center called on Doctors Without Borders, the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and international human rights organizations to act urgently to verify Al-Hams’s health condition, secure his medical treatment, and work for his release.
It said Al-Hams has been deprived of heart medication since February, raising fears of sudden and serious complications. He has also lost around 20 kilograms since his arrest, with his weight dropping to about 69 kilograms, which the center described as evidence of ongoing starvation, deprivation, and abuse.
Al-Hams was abducted with his daughter, nurse Tasnim, while heading to carry out a medical mission near the ICRC field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area, in what the center called a serious violation of protections granted to healthcare workers.
The center added that Al-Hams was subjected to harsh and intensive interrogation in Ashkelon Prison for 43 consecutive days, amounting to nearly 1,000 hours of physical and psychological pressure.
The Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners said Al-Hams’s case is not isolated but part of a broader policy targeting Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers, undermining the Palestinian people’s right to treatment and life.
