The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, on Wednesday called on Israel’s Supreme Court to order his immediate release, saying his detention was “unjust and arbitrary” during his first court appearance in nearly a year.
Dr Abu Safiya appeared before the court via video link from his prison cell while handcuffed.
“My detention is unjust and arbitrary, and I demand my immediate release,” his defence lawyer Nasser Abu Odeh quoted the physician as telling the court.
“I am a paediatrician who provides medical services and care to patients, the wounded and vulnerable people in the Gaza Strip,” Abu Safiya said.
“I carried out my work in accordance with international law and humanitarian standards, and my detention is unjust and arbitrary,” he added.
The lawyer said in a video statement following the hearing that the court decided to postpone a ruling on whether Abu Safiya’s detention would continue, with a decision expected within hours or in the coming days.
The hearing marked Abu Safiya’s first public appearance since February 2025, when Israeli media aired footage showing him shackled inside prison following his arrest, prompting widespread criticism from rights groups and activists.
Harsh detention conditions
Abu Safiya’s appearance came days after his defence lawyer disclosed details of his detention conditions, saying the doctor is being held in harsh circumstances while shackled by both hands and feet, with limited food, no access to safe drinking water and denial of medical care.
In previous remarks to Anadolu on Sunday, Abu Odeh said the doctor suffers from several chronic illnesses and requires regular medication and treatment that he has recently been denied.
The lawyer also said Israeli authorities transferred Abu Safiya on June 3 from Negev Prison to solitary confinement in Nafha Prison in southern Israel.
The Israeli army arrested Abu Safiya on December 27, 2024, during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital amid Israel’s genocide on Gaza.
On February14, 2025, the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights said Southern Command chief Major General Yaron Finkelman had ordered Abu Safiya’s detention under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatant Law”.
The UN, the World Health Organisation, the International Committee of the Red Cross and numerous international medical and human rights organisations have called for urgent intervention to ensure Abu Safiya’s safety and access to medical care.
In October 2025, Amnesty International said, citing a lawyer who visited him and other detainees, that Abu Safiya had been subjected “to abuse and other ill-treatment” during his detention.
Israel continues to hold Abu Safiya despite his repeated denial of involvement in any activities outside his medical duties, amid Palestinian, Israeli and international calls for his immediate release.
According to the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, the Israeli Knesset enacted the “Unlawful Combatant Law” in 2002, allowing authorities to detain individuals indefinitely without filing formal charges or presenting sufficient evidence before a court.
The law deprives detainees of protections afforded to prisoners of war under the Third Geneva Convention and to civilian detainees under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, according to the center.
It also grants Israeli courts broad authority to extend detention based on security suspicions without requiring authorities to disclose detailed reasons for the arrest to detainees or their lawyers.
Around 9 500 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, where they face hunger, torture and medical neglect that have led to the deaths of dozens of detainees, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
Israel launched its genocide in Gaza on October 8, 2023. The war lasted two years and left nearly 73 000 Palestinians dead and more than 173,000 injured, most of them women and children, while destroying about 90 percent of the territory’s infrastructure.
The son of detained Palestinian paediatrician Hussam Abu Safiya said on Thursday that his father showed visible signs of torture and deteriorating health during his latest appearance before an Israeli court.
Elias Abu Safiya told Anadolu that the family was shocked after seeing the Gaza hospital director appear via video link from inside an Israeli prison during a hearing before Israel’s Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
“The family didn’t just see our father’s face after long months of absence,” he said. “We saw pain etched into his features.”
He said signs of torture were visible on the left side of Abu Safiya’s face, while a skin disease appeared to have spread to his hands.
“He looked exhausted by months of suffering,” Elias added.
He said the family had hoped seeing him would reassure them about his condition but were instead confronted with an image reflecting the scale of what he is enduring behind bars.
“What hurts most is seeing a man who dedicated his life to treating the wounded and saving patients in this condition while the world watches in silence,” Elias said. – AA