Lawyers from the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights were finally allowed to meet with Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the heroic former director of the now-destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital in Northern Gaza, for the first time since he was detained by the IDF on Dec. 27. Dr. Abu Safiya told his lawyers how, in the 47 days he has been imprisoned, 25 of them in solitary confinement, he had been tortured, starved and denied urgently needed specialist treatment for his enlarged heart. Dr. Abu Safiya had enraged the Israeli war machine on two counts, in particular: he had refused to leave his patients or evacuate his hospital as ordered by the IDF, even after they killed his son; and he had refused to keep silent about the Israeli genocide.
The doctor has lost 12 kgs—just under 26.5 pounds—in less than two months, “further evidence of Israel’s systematic starvation policies against Palestinian prisoners and detainees,” Al Mezan noted in its press release. EIR asks: Will all those outraged at the gaunt state of the last three Israeli hostages released by Hamas now express equal outrage at Israeli policy of starving the more than 10,000 Palestinians they have imprisoned and detained?
Al Mezan reported that Dr. Safiya was first held at the Sde Teiman military detention camp, where he “was subjected to various forms of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment— methods that are emblematic of Israeli mass arrest operations in Gaza. He reported being forcibly stripped, having his hands tightly shackled, and being made to sit on sharp gravel for approximately five hours by Israeli forces. He was also subjected to severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest.”
