I'm living in hell. Someone has decided to kill me.
In the long and troubled history of medicine caught in the crossfire of conflict, the case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya stands as a particularly grave reckoning. A physician who remained at his post in besieged northern Gaza, he has now spent more than eighteen months in Israeli detention without formal charge, and his lawyer's account of a recent visit — a man barely recognizable, bruised, struggling to breathe — has drawn urgent condemnation from the United Nations and human rights organizations across the world. Israel's Supreme Court has been asked to answer, by Tuesday, whether the law that holds him can justify what has been done to him, and whether the silence of institutions is itself a form of verdict.
- A lawyer walked into a detention facility expecting his client and found a man so swollen and discolored he had to look twice to confirm who he was.
- Dr. Abu Safiya told his attorney he had been beaten by more than five guards with batons and hammers, received no medical care, and believed someone had decided to kill him.
- The Israel Prison Service flatly denied all allegations, insisting detainees are held lawfully and receive proper medical attention — leaving two irreconcilable accounts with no independent verification.
- The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his eighteen-month uncharged imprisonment arbitrary and called for his immediate release, warning it may reflect a systematic pattern.
- Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond by Tuesday to a petition seeking the release of Abu Safiya and thirteen other Palestinian doctors held without charge.
- His lawyer left the facility carrying his client's parting words — 'I think it will be the last time we will meet' — and has not yet been able to return.
When attorney Nasser Odeh arrived at Rakefet interrogation facility last Thursday, he barely recognized the man sitting across from him. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya — the former director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza and a physician who had treated patients through siege and bombardment — was bruised across his face, neck, and ears, struggling to breathe, and drifting in and out of consciousness. According to Odeh, Abu Safiya described being attacked by more than five prison guards following a court hearing the previous month, beaten with hands, batons, and hammers, and given no medical treatment afterward. Before Odeh left, the doctor said quietly: "I think it will be the last time we will meet."
Abu Safiya has been held by Israeli authorities for more than eighteen months without formal charge, detained under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which permits indefinite military detention of Gaza residents suspected of posing a security risk. He was taken in December 2024 when Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of Kamal Adwan hospital, which the military declared a Hamas stronghold. The IDF alleged he held a rank within Hamas's interior ministry health department; colleagues and international aid workers who worked alongside him have consistently denied any such affiliation.
The Israel Prison Service rejected Odeh's account entirely, calling it false and stating that all detainees receive care in accordance with health ministry guidelines. It offered no details about Abu Safiya's condition or location.
The case has drawn mounting international pressure. On Monday, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his imprisonment arbitrary and called for his immediate release, noting that his case — among several submitted to the panel — may point to a widespread or systematic practice of arbitrary detention. Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond by Tuesday to a petition seeking the release of Abu Safiya and thirteen other Palestinian doctors held without charge.
The broader context is stark. In November 2025, the UN Committee against Torture expressed deep concern about reports of organized and widespread torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody. Physicians for Human Rights Israel documented at least ninety-four Palestinian prisoner deaths in Israeli jails in under two years. Amnesty International called Abu Safiya's case "truly horrifying."
Odeh said he has not given up. "His place is outside prison," the lawyer said. "His place is in the hospital." The Supreme Court's response, due Tuesday, will determine what comes next.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya's lawyer walked into Rakefet interrogation facility last Thursday expecting to see his client. What he found was a man he could barely recognize. Nasser Odeh, the attorney representing the Palestinian physician who has been held by Israeli authorities without formal charges for more than eighteen months, told the BBC that Abu Safiya's face was so swollen and discolored he had to look twice to confirm it was the same person. Bruises covered his features—around his eyes, across his neck, along his ears. The doctor was struggling to breathe, exhausted, moving in and out of consciousness during their meeting.
According to Odeh's account, Abu Safiya described being attacked by more than five prison guards following a court hearing the previous month. They used their hands, batons, and hammers. He said he had received no medical attention for his injuries. When Odeh asked how his client was managing, Abu Safiya's response was stark: "I'm living in hell. The mind can't imagine what I go through every day. I think someone has decided to kill me." As Odeh was leaving, Abu Safiya said something that stayed with him: "Thank you Nasser, but I think it will be the last time we will meet."
The Israel Prison Service rejected Odeh's account entirely, calling it false and without factual basis. The service stated that all detainees are held in accordance with the law and receive medical care according to health ministry guidelines. It declined to provide details about Abu Safiya's detention status, location, or medical condition, citing privacy and security concerns. It also rejected broader allegations of abuse, torture, starvation, or denial of medical treatment.
Abu Safiya was the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, where he treated patients while the region was under what the UN described as a "near total siege" by Israeli forces. In December 2024, the Israeli military ordered the hospital evacuated, declaring it a "Hamas terrorist stronghold." Images from that day showed Abu Safiya in his white doctor's coat walking toward an armored vehicle through rubble before being taken for interrogation. The Israeli Defense Forces said he was apprehended on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities and for holding a rank in Hamas—specifically, colonel in the health department of Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry, an agency that provided medical services to security and police personnel and their families. Medical staff and international aid organizations who worked with Abu Safiya have consistently denied that he cooperated with or worked for Hamas.
He is being detained under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which permits the military to hold people from Gaza suspected of posing a security risk for an indefinite period without charge. Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond by Tuesday to a petition calling for the release of Abu Safiya and thirteen other Palestinian doctors from Gaza being held in Israel without formal charges. On Monday, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion declaring his detention arbitrary and calling for his immediate release. The panel of independent experts also noted that Abu Safiya's case was one of several submitted to them that "may indicate a widespread or systematic practice of arbitrary detention in the country."
The Israel Prison Service has faced sustained criticism over its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which it denies. In November 2025, the United Nations Committee against Torture expressed deep concern about reports of "a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment" of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. In the same month, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, an Israeli-based human rights organization, documented that at least ninety-four Palestinian prisoners and detainees had died in Israeli custody in less than two years. Amnesty International called Abu Safiya's case "truly horrifying," while Physicians for Human Rights Israel said he should be transferred immediately, given urgent medical treatment, and visited by a judge.
Odeh said he has not lost hope, though his client's parting words weighed heavily. "I hope to see him soon out of prison," the lawyer said. "His place is outside prison, his place is in the hospital." The Supreme Court's response, due Tuesday, will determine what happens next in a case that has drawn attention from international human rights bodies and medical organizations worldwide.
Notable Quotes
He nearly lost consciousness several times. He told us that he was subjected to severe violence inside the prison, especially on the day of the visit.— Nasser Odeh, Abu Safiya's lawyer
I hope to see him soon out of prison. His place is outside prison, his place is in the hospital.— Nasser Odeh, Abu Safiya's lawyer
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made you decide to visit him that particular day?
His lawyer goes regularly—it's part of the legal process. But this time, when Nasser Odeh walked in, he realized something had changed fundamentally. The physical damage was so severe it altered how he could even recognize his own client.
Did Abu Safiya say why the beating happened when it did?
He said it came after a court hearing the month before, when he'd appealed his detention. It seems like retaliation—a message that going to court, fighting back legally, has consequences inside the facility.
The prison service denies all of this. How does a lawyer respond to that kind of blanket denial?
By documenting everything. By having witnesses. By taking it to higher courts and international bodies. That's why the UN working group's ruling matters—it's independent verification that something is systematically wrong.
Do you think Abu Safiya will actually be released by Tuesday?
The Supreme Court has to respond, but responding isn't the same as ruling in his favor. What matters is that the pressure is building—from the UN, from medical organizations, from his own government's courts. That creates space for change, even if it's slow.
What struck you most about what his lawyer said?
That final line. "I think it will be the last time we will meet." A detained man telling his lawyer goodbye. That's not a legal argument. That's despair speaking.