UN experts call for release of Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safiya after reports of ‘severe torture’
The Israeli government, the military and the prisoners did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including whether any charges have been brought against Abu Safiya, whom the Israel Defense Forces accuse without evidence of having a “position” within Hamas.
UN experts say his continued detention “seems unreasonable.” They said they had contacted the Israeli government about his case, but did not follow through. They did not elaborate on the origin of the reports they said they received about his condition.
The family of Abu Safiya and The team of lawyers representing him, both of whom have said that he reported the torture, could not be reached for comment.
Abu Safiya became the voice of the besieged Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s more than two-year offensive on the enclave following a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. A doctor, whose son was killed during the Israeli attack, he made headlines around the world in December 2024 after videos captured his final moments before his arrest.
In the harrowing video, Abu Safiya could be seen walking down a rubble-strewn street towards Israeli tanks, his white medical coat standing out against the rubble around him.
The Israeli military initially denied that Abu Safiya was in their custody, but later alleged without providing evidence that he was involved in “terrorist activities” and “held a position” in Hamas.
It is suspected that Hamas terrorists were working in the compound of Kamal Adwan hospital, which is one of many in Gaza where the Israeli army attacked after the Hamas facility.
Abu Safiya’s son and his associates, including the Chicago-based nonprofit MedGlobal, have denied the allegations against him. UN experts and human rights organizations have accused Israel of the targeted destruction of Gaza’s health system.
Before his arrest, Abu Safiya was the lead doctor in Gaza for MedGlobal, a Chicago-based organization that has partnered with local health workers in Gaza for years and organizes medical visits to the area.
“I would say his torture and imprisonment is unimaginable,” John Kahler, founder of MedGlobal who worked with Abu Safiya during his visit to Gaza, told NBC News on Wednesday. But “unfortunately not,” Kahler said, pointing to a growing body of reports of alleged abuse of Palestinians held in Israeli custody.
“Dr. Abu Safiya committed an unforgivable ‘crime’ of representing his patients repeatedly,” he said, adding that instead of being a prisoner, he should be seen as “a clear beacon of morality around the world.”
“I don’t have many words to describe the positive anger of knowing that you are still frustrated in these prisons,” said Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency physician who serves as a board member of the Palestinian American Medical Association and who worked with Abu Safiya before the Gaza war.
In a telephone interview, he said it was “ridiculous” that Israel suggested that Abu Safiya “works in the children’s ICU during the day and that at night he is some kind of military hero” and accused the Israeli authorities of combining the work under the health ministry in Gaza, which would be run by Hamas as the ruling authority in the area, with the operation of the group.
After Abu Safiya’s arrest was previously confirmed by an Israeli court in March last year, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which represented the arrested doctor, maintained his innocence, saying in a statement released by the media that “he only performed medical and administrative duties at the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
There were hopes that Abu Safiya might be released in the last hostage exchange in Gaza to free the Palestinians held by Israel at the start of the ceasefire. But his family saw their hopes dashed when it was announced in October that his detention had been extended, without charge.
Scores of Palestinian health workers are believed to be still in Israeli custody, and six are known to have died in custody as of October 7, 2023, according to Healthcare Workers Watch, an initiative that documents detentions in Gaza. An estimated 1,200 health workers have been killed under Israeli attacks in the area since February 2025, according to the organization.
Those still in Israeli custody are among more than 9,400 people detained by Israel since this month, including more than 3,400 held under “legal detention,” according to data published by HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organization.
Under a widely condemned practice, Israeli authorities detain people indefinitely without trial or other formal legal proceedings, often based on confidential testimony from alleged accomplices and detainees, their families or legal representatives.
