CNN reported today that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces closed down on Dec. 27 after bombing and burning it, is being held at the notorious Sde Teiman prison in Israel’s Negev Desert. The Sde Teiman prison should be known as Israel’s Abu Ghraib because of the allegations that Palestinian prisoners have been being tortured there throughout Israel’s war against Gaza.
Two Palestinian prisoners released this weekend from the facility said they saw Abu Safiya at the prison, and another former detainee said he heard Abu Safiya’s name being read out. CNN said it could not independently verify the former detainees’ accounts, nor has the Israeli military confirmed that Abu Safiya is being held at the facility.
World Health Organization Director Dr. Tedros Adhamon Ghebreyesus held a press conference this morning in which he called for Dr. Abu Safiya’s release. “Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern #Gaza is out of service—following the raid, forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, two days ago,” he said in an X posting. “His whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release.”
Dr. Tedros reported that the critical care patients at Kamal Adwan had been moved to the Indonesian Hospital, but that hospital is not functional either. “Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City also faced attacks today, and both are damaged,” he reported further. “We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!”
