As the Israeli military continues to block access to a high-profile Palestinian doctor they kidnapped last month, medical workers and aid groups say that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s ongoing detention and the lack of transparency around it underscores Israel’s larger campaign of systematically destroying Gaza’s health care system.
Israeli forces kidnapped Abu Safiya on Dec. 27 during an attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital. According to the World Health Organization, it was one of dozens of attacks in a monthslong bombardment that has subjected hundreds of patients and health care workers to forced evacuations, detentions and sometimes death inside what was effectively the last functioning hospital in walled-off North Gaza.
Nearly two weeks after the kidnapping, the Israeli military has yet to release information on Abu Safiya’s whereabouts and status — and will only say that he is in custody and is considered a terror “suspect” without providing evidence to support the claim. Authorities say the doctor is banned from meeting with a lawyer until at least Friday and refused to respond to a legal filing by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel challenging that ban.
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