Israeli court upholds detention order for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya for 6 months

An Israeli court upheld a detention order Tuesday against Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

“The Israeli Beersheba court today upheld the detention of Abu Safiya as an unlawful combatant for a period of six months,” the Prisoners' Information Office, affiliated with the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, said in a statement.

No further details were provided.

Israel arrested Abu Safiya, 52, in late December after storming the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He was forcibly removed at gunpoint after the hospital was destroyed and rendered non-operational.

Israel's 2002 Unlawful Combatants Law allows it to hold Palestinians without charges or a fair trial based on classified files, a measure increasingly applied to detain Gaza residents since 2005, denying them judicial review.

- Symbol of Palestinian resilience

Abu Safiya gained international recognition for his humanitarian role during the genocidal war in Gaza, working under heavy bombardment to save civilians.

His arrest, captured in an image showing him in his white medical coat, walking alone amid Israeli military vehicles, became an iconic symbol of Palestinian resilience.

His family and legal representatives report that he has endured severe torture and starvation in Israeli prisons.

Abu Safiya's suffering deepened when he lost his son, Ibrahim, during an Israeli raid last October at the hospital.

A month later, he was injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the hospital but refused to leave, continuing to treat the wounded until his arrest.

More than 50,100 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 113,700 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.