Six progressive members of the US House of Representatives have issued a statement condemning Israel's mistreatment of Palestinian medical personnel, including Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safia, who has been held in Israeli detention since 2024.
The statement, released on Tuesday, draws attention to Israeli attacks on Palestinian medical workers — people targeted and detained during a war that human rights groups describe as aimed at Gaza.
It was signed by Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, Summer Lee, Pramila Jayapal and Delia Ramirez.
"Over the past three years, the Israeli authorities have systematically destroyed Palestine's healthcare system, killing at least 1,700 Palestinian doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical workers, and destroying dozens of hospitals," the statement said.
"They have arbitrarily arrested and detained hundreds of Palestinian medical workers, including at least 16 doctors who remain held in inhumane conditions."
Among those detained is Abu Safia, who his lawyers say has been subjected to treatment amounting to torture, including sleep deprivation and beatings, during his detention.
Israeli soldiers arrested Abu Safia in December 2024, after he and other medical staff were said to have refused to evacuate Kamal Adwan Hospital, where they worked.
Abu Safia has not been charged and has not stood trial.
Israel's attacks on Gaza's healthcare infrastructure, including the destruction of nearly all of the territory's hospitals and medical centres, form part of what human rights groups describe as an effort to deprive Palestinians of essential services such as food, water and medical care.
Tuesday's statement argues that such efforts are part of a "deliberate policy to advance occupation, apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people".
That assessment is shared by a growing number of human rights organisations, scholars and UN officials who have condemned Israel's actions in the Palestinian territory.
Israeli officials say they target hospitals and medical facilities as part of efforts to strike Palestinian armed groups that they claim use these sites to carry out and coordinate operations.
Such claims have often not stood up to verification. Israel acknowledged that its soldiers killed 15 paramedics in southern Gaza in March 2025, after initially saying the ambulance convoy had approached troops "suspiciously" and alleging, without evidence, that some of the dead had ties to Hamas.
A report by the groups Forensic Architecture and Earshot found that Israeli soldiers fired more than 900 bullets when they opened fire on a clearly marked ambulance convoy and killed several medical workers in "execution" style before burying their bodies and vehicles.
