Lawyer says detained Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safia’s life is at risk
Nasser Odeh said the Gaza pediatrician was badly beaten during a prison visit, according to an account by Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
A lawyer for detained Gaza pediatrician Hussam Abu Safia has warned that his life is in danger after seeing him at Israel’s Nitzan Prison, according to Norwegian doctor and author Mads Gilbert. The claim adds renewed attention to the case of a hospital director held by Israel since late 2024 without a criminal indictment, according to Gilbert.
Gilbert, writing for Al Jazeera, said lawyer Nasser Odeh visited Abu Safia on Thursday in an underground interrogation facility linked to Nitzan Prison. Odeh said Abu Safia had been beaten so severely that he struggled to recognize him and that the doctor lost consciousness during the meeting, according to Gilbert.
Abu Safia, a Palestinian pediatrician from Gaza, directed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza before Israeli forces detained him on Dec. 27, 2024, Gilbert said. Video and images from that day showed him in a white coat walking through a destroyed street toward Israeli armored vehicles, according to Al Jazeera’s account.
Detained under Israeli law
Israel has said Abu Safia is affiliated with Hamas and has held him under its Unlawful Combatants Law, according to Gilbert. He wrote that Israeli authorities have not filed a criminal indictment against Abu Safia and that the intelligence cited to justify the detention has not been reviewed by an independent observer.
Abu Safia appeared by video link during an Israeli Supreme Court hearing in West Jerusalem on June 10, according to Reuters imagery cited by Al Jazeera. Gilbert said the doctor appeared handcuffed and shackled and looked thin and unwell.
Gilbert said Abu Safia became widely known after Kamal Adwan Hospital was forced to empty following an 85-day siege. He wrote that Israeli troops stormed the hospital on Dec. 6, 2024, and that at least 30 people were killed and 20 injured. Gilbert also said Abu Safia’s teenage son, Ibrahim, was killed outside the hospital.
Broader detentions of medical workers
Gilbert described Abu Safia as one of many Palestinian medical workers detained by Israel. He wrote that 14 doctors, including Abu Safia, remain in Israeli detention camps and prisons, and that two detained doctors have died.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 1,700 healthcare workers had been killed in Gaza as of June 24, 2026, according to the figures cited by Gilbert. He argued that Palestinian medical staff have been targeted because they treat patients and document the effects of the war.
Israel has repeatedly alleged that Gaza hospitals have been used by Palestinian armed groups, Gilbert wrote. He said he had worked in Gaza hospitals for 25 years and had not seen evidence that hospitals or ambulances were used that way.
Gilbert also cited a recent UN inquiry that found evidence of Israel’s direct targeting of Palestinian children and destruction of childhood in Gaza. He cited Save the Children figures saying more than 24,000 children in Gaza had been killed and at least 42,011 injured.
Gilbert called for Abu Safia’s immediate release and urged international sanctions and boycotts against Israel. Al Jazeera noted that the views expressed were Gilbert’s own and did not necessarily reflect the network’s editorial policy.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.