Concerns are rising about the safety of the director of one of the last partially functioning hospitals in northern Gaza after the Israeli military detained him.
Hussam Abu Safia, 51, was arrested by Israeli forces during their raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday. It is not known where he has been taken.
The World Health Organization said it lost contact with Abu Safia after the raid, which also saw the Israeli military force out dozens of medical staff and patients.
The director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Barsh, said Abu Safia was severely beaten with batons and sticks by Israeli forces, who forced him to strip and put on clothes meant for prisoners.
It was the second time in as many months that Abu Safia had been detained by Israeli forces as they conduct their genocide in Gaza.
Here’s what you need to know about him: Abu Safia, a paediatrician by training, is a prominent figure in Gaza’s healthcare system. He holds a master’s degree and a Palestinian board certification in paediatrics and neonatology.
Also known by his nickname Abu Elias, Abu Safia was born on November 21, 1973, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. His family was displaced in 1948 from the Palestinian town of Hamama in the Ashkelon district.
Abu Safia refused multiple Israeli orders to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital after the Israeli military imposed a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip on October 5. The siege saw Israel cut off supplies of food and water to the Palestinians in the area while launching air strikes and conducting shelling, killing hundreds of civilians.
The siege also has had a devastating impact on the region’s hospitals. Abu Safia was briefly arrested and then released when Israeli forces stormed the facility in late October and detained 44 of its staff members, leaving him and a handful of medical workers to care for dozens of wounded people.
During the same operation, Israeli forces killed Abu Safia’s son Ibrahim in a drone strike at the gate of the hospital. The doctor led the funeral prayers for his son in the hospital’s courtyard as he accused the Israeli military of killing his son to punish him for refusing to leave the hospital.
In spite of the siege, the medical team, which included a few doctors such as Abu Safia and a small group of nurses, remained at the hospital, refusing repeated orders from the Israeli military to leave.
By staying put in the hospital, Abu Safia had kept the world informed of Israel’s near-daily attacks, issuing video statements and pleading for international intervention to end the attacks.
He was wounded by shrapnel from an Israeli drone attack on the hospital on November 23 while he was exiting the operating room. He sustained six shrapnel wounds to his thigh, which caused ruptures in his veins and arteries. But he pleaded to continue his work.
“This will not stop us,” he said. “I was injured at my workplace, and that is an honour. My blood is no more precious than that of my colleagues or the people we serve. I will return to my patients as soon as I recover.”
