Abandoned in darkness: Gaza’s hero doctor fights for survival behind bars

Ghaed Ghanem Qassem, the lawyer representing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, said after his recent visit with this Palestinian detainee that his client’s physical condition is extremely grave.

He explained that Abu Safiya, who weighed 100 kilograms at the time of his arrest, has lost nearly 40 kilograms since then.

According to the Ma'an News Agency, Qassem stated that the drastic weight loss is a direct result of the harsh prison conditions and the occupying regime’s deliberate denial of medical care. Abu Safiya has reportedly been severely beaten for half an hour straight, sustaining blows to his chest, face, head, and neck. Yet prison authorities have refused to provide medical treatment or refer him to a specialist.

According to his lawyer, Abu Safiya is suffering from heart arrhythmia and is a victim of deliberate medical negligence. Despite the intense heat, he is forced to wear winter clothing and is subjected to torture, starvation, and solitary confinement.

Qassem further emphasized that Abu Safiya is being held in an underground cell, completely deprived of sunlight, a condition that has severely worsened both his physical and mental health.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Information Office announced earlier this year that the Israeli Be’er Sheva court had upheld a six-month detention order against this renowned Palestinian doctor, classifying him as an “unlawful combatant.”

The occupying regime enacted the “Unlawful Combatants Law” in 2002 to allow the detention of Palestinians without charges or fair trials based on secret files. Since 2005, Israel has used this law to repress Gaza residents without legal recourse or judicial review.

Dr. Abu Safiya, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, refused to abandon his medical post during Israel’s war and attacks, even after his teenage son Ibrahim was martyred and he himself was wounded in an airstrike. Despite his personal injuries and desperate need for treatment, he continued treating wounded children and civilians, remaining loyal to his medical oath. Even under relentless shelling and bombardment, he performed funeral prayers for his son at the hospital.

While Israel’s round-the-clock bombardments turned the hospital into a scene of suffering, Abu Safiya exposed the planting of explosive devices at the hospital’s gates and appealed to the international community to prevent the interruption of its medical services.

Nevertheless, on December 28, the Israeli army announced that it had arrested Abu Safiya along with 300 others. His iconic image — wearing his white medical coat, unarmed, walking amidst ruins toward Israeli tanks — spread widely on social media and turned him into a symbol of steadfastness and resistance.