After the Israel Defense Forces invaded the facility, arrested numerous individuals, and forced the closure of one of the remaining operational medical institutions in the northern part of the enclave, there are mounting concerns for the safety of a well-known hospital director in Gaza who was taken into Israeli prison.
Video taken outside Kamal Adwan Hospital and confirmed by NBC News shows Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, approaching a military vehicle by himself while donning a white medical overcoat. According to the widely shared footage on social media, the buildings surrounding him look to be damaged, and the street is littered with debris.
The Israeli military acknowledged Monday that it had captured and questioned Abu Safiya, though it is unclear exactly when the video was taken.In a post on X, IDF spokeswoman Nadav Shoshani stated that he was being detained as a “suspect” and interrogated on “potential involvement in terrorist activity.”
A pediatrician named Abu Safiya frequently warned about the IDF’s raid on the hospital and how it put patients, particularly preterm newborns, in danger before he was arrested.
He shared a video on his Instagram account on Friday that showed a quadcopter dropping a bomb a short distance from Kamal Adwan Hospital. The device detonated with a loud explosion and then sent smoke plumes skyward.
In footage that NBC News geolocated to the vicinity of the hospital on Friday, a group of guys wearing only the barest minimum of clothing were seen walking in a line with their hands up. On the same day, footage of a fire tearing across multiple hospital units was taken by NBC News’s ground crew in Gaza. While some rummaged among the debris, others were seen rushing to attempt and put out the fire with buckets of water.
In the past, Shoshani claimed that the fire had nothing to do with the IDF’s operations at the location.
International groups, including the World Health Organization, have raised the alarm and called for Abu Safiya’s release after he has not been seen since Friday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday in a statement on X that “hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat,” adding that Kamal Adwan had to leave his position after the IDF raid.
Ghebreyesus stated, “We call for his immediate release,” adding that it is unknown where Abu Safiya is.
International law, which stipulates that hospitals and medical personnel must never be the targets of conflict, protects them.
Questions concerning Abu Safiya’s whereabouts, health, and potential charges against him were not immediately answered by the IDF.
Kamal Adwan was accused by the IDF of being used as a “Hamas command center.” Over 240 individuals were arrested over the weekend, all of them were “terrorists,” the statement continued.
Over the weekend, the international human rights organization Amnesty International shared a picture of Abu Safiya and expressed its “extreme concern over the fate & wellbeing” of the medical director.
“He must be released immediately and unconditionally,” the group stated in a statement that was uploaded on X.
Critical patients were transferred from Kamal Adwan to the adjacent Indonesian Hospital, even though Ghebreyesus pointed out that the latter was “itself out of function.”
He said that in addition to moving 10 vital patients to Al-Shifa Hospital, which has been repeatedly bombed and raided by Israeli forces during the war in the Gaza Strip, WHO personnel on the ground and partner organizations were able to deliver water and basic medical and hygiene supplies to the Indonesian hospital on Monday.
However, according to Ghebreyesus, WHO’s efforts resulted in the detention of at least four patients. “We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld,” he stated.
Over the course of the last few days, numerous additional hospitals in Gaza have also been assaulted, according to the WHO director-general.
Throughout the more than year-long onslaught in the enclave, the IDF has routinely targeted hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, claiming that Hamas is abusing them and using them as military locations.
Claims that Hamas or other extremists use medical facilities are strongly refuted by local health experts.
Israel’s more than year-long military offensive has damaged or destroyed the majority of Gaza’s medical facilities, leaving the enclave’s health care infrastructure in ruins due to Israeli troops’ continuous attacks on hospitals and medical institutions.
“A hospital, whether immediately used or not, is presumptively protected as an important civilian institution,” former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth previously told NBC News. “If a hospital has been reduced to a bombed-out shell, it would cease to be protected, but otherwise an important civilian institution is protected.” “It can be attacked only if actively used for military purposes, and even then, only if the civilian harm is not disproportionate.”
Among those who denounced the IDF’s assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital as a “brutal violation of a protected medical space” and reiterated calls for Abu Safiya’s release was the charity organization MedGlobal, based in Illinois.
“The lifeline of healthcare provision in northern Gaza is Dr. Abu Safiya and his team,” MedGlobal’s Gaza country director, Rajaa Musleh, stated in a statement.
Since Israeli troops began their offensive in the enclave following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which was led by Hamas and resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people and the hostage-taking of about 250 more, the battle in the Gaza Strip has escalated significantly, resulting in over 45,000 deaths.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!