Israel has confirmed that it is holding the director of the hospital in Gaza, Dr. Hussama Abu Safiyu after earlier telling a local NGO that she was not aware of his case, raising concerns for his well-being.
A statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said he was personally “currently being investigated by Israeli security forces.”
The statement offered no explanation for the mix-up, but reiterated that he was suspected of being a “terrorist” and “of rank” in Hamas, the Palestinian armed group at war with Israel in Gaza.
Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested when the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff out of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza last Friday, citing the facility as a “Hamas stronghold.”
On Thursday, the IDF told Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) that there was “no indication of the arrest or detention of the person concerned.”
On Thursday, PHRI filed a petition with Israel’s High Court of Justice, demanding that the location of Dr. Abu Safiya. The court is said to have given the IDF a week to comply.
Meanwhile, Amnesty head Agnès Callamard said the Israeli authorities must “urgently find out where he is”.
She said Israel had detained “hundreds of Palestinian health workers from Gaza without charge or trial” and said they had been “subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and held incommunicado and incommunicado detention.”
Israel denies abusing prisoners.
The family of dr. Abu Safiye previously told BBC Arabic that she believed he was at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces have taken many detainees from Gaza for interrogation.
Whistleblowers previously told the BBC and other international media extremely difficult conditions for detainees there. Israel said all prisoners there are being held “carefully and appropriately”.
The IDF ordered everyone at Kamal Adwan Hospital to leave last Friday morning, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff into the courtyard, medical staff told the BBC.
Beit Lahia, where the hospital is located, has been under a tighter Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October. The UN said the area was under “almost total siege” as the Israeli army severely restricted access for aid supplies to the area, where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remained.
On Saturday, the IDF said it had arrested 240 fighters in Kamal Adwan and said Dr. Abu Safiya was among the medical staff taken in for questioning.
The video showed him walking towards an Israeli armored vehicle before being taken away for questioning. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the arrest the same day, saying the doctor had been transferred for questioning.
dr. Abu Safiya was previously arrested by Israeli forces during an earlier raid on the hospital in October, but was released shortly after. During that Israeli operation, the 15-year-old son of dr. Abu Safiye was killed in a drone attack. Footage taken later that day showed him leading a funeral for his son in the hospital courtyard.
Israeli attacks on health facilities in Gaza have drawn increasing condemnation.
On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Office announced that Israeli attacks on and around hospitals had intensified Gaza’s health system on the “brink of total collapse” and raised serious concerns about war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel’s mission in Geneva said Israeli forces acted in accordance with international law and would “never target innocent civilians”.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
More than 45,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
