The director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health has issued an urgent call for international intervention to save the life of detained Palestinian physician Dr. Hussam Abu Safia before it is “too late.” The paediatrician has been held by Israeli authorities since late 2024, and “serious concerns are mounting” regarding his physical condition and safety, Dr. Muneer al-Boursh stated in a post on X this Saturday.
Dr. al-Boursh cited reports indicating that Dr. Abu Safia has been subjected to physical assault while in Israeli custody, sustaining injuries to his head, chest, and eyes. These reports, combined with a total lack of medical care, have created a “source of extreme alarm that demands urgent action, not postponed statements,” al-Boursh emphasized. He noted that the “irony” of the doctor’s detention is “agonising,” given that Dr. Abu Safia previously led Kamal Adwan Hospital—one of the last functioning medical facilities in northern Gaza—through an 85-day siege before Israeli forces raided the site and detained him on December 27, 2024.
Currently, Dr. Abu Safia is being held without charge under Israel’s unlawful combatant law, which permits indefinitely renewable detention. Although his legal counsel visited him last month and documented new signs of beatings and torture, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal for his release in June. International rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, have repeatedly warned that his life remains in imminent danger due to these conditions.
“Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, who stayed by his patients’ side at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the bleakest of circumstances, now finds himself behind bars, stripped of his freedom, as fears grow for his physical safety,” al-Boursh wrote. The ministry chief has demanded an independent, comprehensive medical examination for the doctor and has called upon the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations to intervene immediately to secure his freedom and the safety of all detained healthcare workers.
This appeal coincides with reports from Al Jazeera correspondents regarding a sharp deterioration across Gaza’s entire health sector, nearly 10 months into a “ceasefire” that Israel continues to breach on a near-daily basis. On Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that three Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire north of Khan Younis. Meanwhile, Israeli forces conducted extensive demolition operations south of the city, and military vehicles continued to fire east of Salah al-Din Street near the Wadi Gaza Bridge.
“The Israeli occupation has not adhered to the terms of the ceasefire, nor even to the protocol attached to this ceasefire,” said Al Jazeera’s Noor Khaled, reporting from Gaza City. She noted that Israeli-controlled “yellow zones” now encompass more than 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, forcing the remaining population into less than 30 percent of the territory, much of which lies in ruins. Furthermore, border crossings remain largely restricted, with only about 250 aid trucks entering daily, far below the 600 required to meet basic needs.
The humanitarian crisis is compounded by the fact that approximately 20,000 patients are currently waiting for evacuation to receive life-saving treatment abroad. From Deir al-Balah, correspondent Ashraf Abu Amra reported that Nasser Hospital is seeing three to four patients die every day due to critical shortages of medicine and supplies. This follows the destruction of a major medical supply warehouse last week, which previously served nearly half a million people near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s health system is among the most severely impacted in the world. “It will take generations” for the population to recover from the current trauma and loss, Sunghay warned. He added that the ongoing blockade of dual-use materials by Israel prevents the restoration of safe drinking water and the stabilization of collapsing shelters, further exacerbating the health crisis.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that hospitals received two people who died of their wounds and six others injured within the last 24 hours. These latest casualties bring the total death toll since the October “ceasefire” began to 1,257, with 4,131 wounded. In total, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 73,000 Palestinians since October 2023, leaving the medical infrastructure in a state of near-total collapse.
Of the 600 aid trucks which should deliver daily, “what enters does not exceed 250 trucks.”