‘Abandoned and left to die’: Family of Hussam Abu Safiya says he has been betrayed by rights groups
The son of the Palestinian doctor Dr Hussam Abu Safiya has told Middle East Eye that his family feels betrayed by human rights groups, and that they hold the international community accountable for his deteriorating health in Israeli prison.
Dr Abu Safiya is a paediatrician and former medical director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza. He was abducted by Israel and held without charge since December 2024.
Last week the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) warned that his life is in imminent danger and demanded his immediate release.
Abu Safiya’s son Elias,told MEE: “Regrettably the time for appeals has passed - the moment has arrived for a final opportunity, a last call addressed to every person to intervene urgently and speak out about my father’s situation.
“The world clearly doesn’t see us as human beings or deserving of equal rights. There is far more support for Israeli causes than Palestinian ones.
“We have been abandoned, and Palestinians like my father are being abandoned in Israeli prison cells and left to die.”
Dr Abu Safiya’s lawyer Nasser Odeh visited him on 2 July at the underground Rakefet interrogation facility in Nitzan Prison, northern Israel.
Odeh reported that he struggled to recognise Abu Safiya because of new injuries to his face and head, and that he appeared extremely weak, struggled to breathe and speak, and was in a state of psychological distress.
“I was in shock and disbelief when I heard this news,” Elias said.
“I went outside of my home, talking to myself, not knowing what to do, and thinking about my father being tortured and hit repeatedly.
“Just imagine a doctor being tortured, humiliated and killed behind bars, isolated and crying out for help, it's truly devastating.
“How can we as a family bear to watch my father dying before her [his lawyer's] eyes while we remain helpless in the face of utter subjugation and injustice?”
‘They brought me here to kill me’
Abu Safiya reportedly said to his lawyer: "This is the last time you will see me… They brought me here to kill me. I don't see myself surviving. This is the end."
He had a Supreme Court hearing in June, where visible injuries could be seen on his arms and face.
According to PHRI, four or five prison guards had entered his cell before his hearing and assaulted him with a hammer and metal batons, inflicting injuries across his body and head.
A source close to the family believes that the symptoms Abu Safiya is displaying as a result of these injuries is likely to have caused a blood clot, which put pressure on his brain.
PHRI added that since his transfer to the Rakefet facility after his hearing, he has been subjected to daily beatings, resulting in several instances where he lost consciousness.
He has been held in solitary confinement since last month and has continually been denied access to medical treatment.
Abu Safiya still has six pieces of shrapnel in his leg from a quadcopter shooting in 2024, which targeted his family while they were asleep in Kamal Adwan hospital - that wound continues to cause him bleeding and swelling.
Since he has been in prison, Dr Abu Safiya has also developed an enlarged heart as a result of high blood pressure.
Singled out for torture
Derek Summerfield, honorary senior lecturer at King’s College London who has researched and campaigned on the psychiatric impact of detention and torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, told MEE the treatment of Abu Safiya was not surprising.
“Torture is very much an everyday matter in Israel and has been used as a weapon against Palestinians in interrogation suites for decades,” he said.
“I think the savagery inflicted on Palestinian detainees has increased markedly since 2023.
“The state feels it has complete impunity and doctors are part of that.
'Torture is very much an everyday matter in Israel and has been used as a weapon against Palestinians in interrogation suites for decades'
- Derek Summerfield, King’s College London
Israel is currently holding 14 other doctors from Gaza without charge.
According to testimonies gathered by Healthcare Workers Watch, which tracks the treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, Dr Abu Safiya was singled out for humiliation, starvation and intense torture by Israeli soldiers.
Summerfield believes Israel would prefer Dr Abu Safiya to die, rather than be released and tell his story to the world.
“Dr Abu Safiya represents a heroic resilience that Israel is determined to quash,” he said.
“The more pressure we can create, it is perhaps more likely that they will not allow him to die.”
Another doctor, Adnan al-Bursh, who was head of the orthopaedic department at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, was found dead in an Israeli prison in April 2024.
He was detained by Israeli forces at Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza in December 2023.
While in prison he was subjected to brutal beatings, torture and repeatedly raped, according to testimonies of released Palestinian prisoners who had come into contact with him.
His body hasn’t been released by Israel yet.
Prominent Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, captured by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2024 and held in detention ever since, appeared via video link at Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday, still handcuffed, shackled and in solitary confinement, his lawyer said.
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 10, 2026
"Dr. Hussam… pic.twitter.com/SmGUJtbdoS
“My father told me to speak out for all of the Palestinian healthcare workers who are suffering inside Israeli prisons,” Elias told MEE.
Organisations including the UN have also called for the immediate release of detained Palestinian healthcare workers, and PHRI has filed appeals to the Israeli authorities echoing this, as well as urging them to allow Dr Abu Safiya to have an independent medical examination.
Israel’s Supreme Court is expecting a response from the state to PHRI’s petitions on 7 July.
A member of the Israeli Knesset, Ofer Cassif, also called for Dr Abu Safiya’s immediate release last week.
“The increased, intense abuse of my father has reached a point where even Israeli society is talking about it,” Elias observed.
‘Words can’t describe the pain’
Elias, who holds medical qualifications, worked alongside his father in Kamal Adwan Hospital during the genocide.
He told MEE that despite bombardments, his father remained dedicated to his patients until the hospital was besieged and he was forced to leave.
“I don’t have the words to describe how proud I am of my father's courage. When the local population was being starved and killed, he stood steadfast and refused to betray their trust or shirk his responsibilities, and as a result people saw him as a beacon of hope,” he said.
“I have nothing but love, appreciation and respect for this great man.”
Elias’s 20-year old brother Ebrahim was killed by Israel in October 2024, he believes this was a deliberate targeting, as a form of revenge on his father.
Abu Safiya refused to leave his hospital when the Israeli military had declared northern Gaza a combat zone.
He also made public statements about famine and the injuries Israel had inflicted on children.
Elias said his family doesn’t know whether to grieve for the loss of his brother or for his father.
“Words can’t describe the extent of the pain we have been going through,” he said.
‘Silence is complicity’
Advocacy groups in the UK are holding protests this week to highlight Dr Abu Safiya’s case.
A coalition of medical groups will be demonstrating outside the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in London on Friday, which trained Gaza's doctors, demanding advocacy for Dr Abu Safiya.
A petition will also be delivered to the college urging them to demand the release of Abu Safiya and condemn the targeting, detention and killing of health workers in Gaza. So far, the college has not made any public statement.
“Dr Abu Safiya’s situation is no longer tolerable for any medical professional with a conscience,” said Reyhana Alborz, co-chair of Child Health Advocates 4 Palestine.
'The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health used to train Gaza’s doctors and has a duty to speak up'
- Reyhana Alborz, Child Health Advocates 4 Palestine
“When one paediatrician is punished for protecting children, all paediatricians must speak up.
“The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health used to train Gaza’s doctors and has a duty to speak up.”
Amira Nimerawi, co-founder and chief executive of campaign group Health Workers 4 Palestine, told MEE: “Every institution with the power to demand his release has the facts in front of them.
“Silence at this point is not neutrality, it is complicity in whatever happens next to him.”
Elias told MEE he continues to find strength in his father’s example.
“He was still defending his people, still carrying the humanitarian mission of his profession up to the point of his arrest, and it is a privilege and an honour to carry his message to the world,” he said.
“He taught us that sacrifice comes at a price, and this is a price we have paid and continue to pay.
“Those who remain silent now are complicit and colluding with Israel, and I urge anyone who is in a position of influence to put pressure on these criminals by speaking out for my father and all of the Palestinian prisoners.”
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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