Gaza health officials urge urgent action to save doctor Abu Safia

Gaza Health Ministry Director-General Muneer al-Boursh on August 9 called for urgent action to "save" the life of Dr. Hussam Abu Safia before it is "too late." The pediatrician has been held by Israel since 2024, with "serious concerns" now raised over his health and safety.

According to al-Boursh, reports indicate Abu Safia has been assaulted in Israeli detention facilities, suffering injuries to his eyes, head, and chest. His prolonged detention without medical care has made his condition an "extreme alarm that demands urgent action, not delayed statements."

Abu Safia is the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in northern Gaza. He led the hospital through an 85-day siege before Israeli forces raided the facility and detained him on December 27, 2024.

He is held without charge under Israel's "unlawful combatant" law, which allows indefinite detention. Israel's Supreme Court rejected an appeal for his release in June. His lawyer, who visited him last month, reported fresh signs of beatings and torture. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the UN Commission of Inquiry, have warned that his life is in danger.

Al-Boursh highlighted the "bitter irony" of the detention: "Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, who stood by patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital under the bleakest circumstances, now sits behind bars, stripped of freedom, while fears over his physical safety and detention conditions grow."

He stated that Israeli occupation forces bear full responsibility for Abu Safia's life and safety, demanding an independent and comprehensive medical examination to ensure he receives necessary treatment. He also called for the release of the doctor and all medical workers held by Israel, urging the Red Cross, World Health Organization, United Nations, and human rights groups to intervene.

Israel 'not complying with ceasefire'

The appeal comes as Al Jazeera reporters noted a severe deterioration across Gaza's health sector, nearly 10 months after a "ceasefire" was declared, with Israel continuing to violate it almost daily.

On August 9, three Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire north of Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Israeli forces also carried out large-scale demolition operations in the south of the city, while military vehicles continued shooting east of Salah al-Din Street near Wadi Gaza bridge in the center of the strip.

Al Jazeera's Noor Khaled, reporting from Gaza City, said: "Israel has not complied with the ceasefire terms, nor even the protocol attached to it." Israeli-controlled "yellow zones" now cover more than 70% of the Gaza Strip, leaving Palestinians confined to less than 30% of the territory, much of it destroyed.

Crossings remain closed, with around 20,000 patients waiting to be evacuated for treatment abroad. Of the 600 aid trucks needed daily in Gaza, "the actual number does not exceed 250." Al Jazeera's Ashraf Abu Amra in Deir al-Balah reported that Nasser Hospital announced "3-4 patients die each day due to lack of medicines and medical supplies."

Last week, Israeli forces destroyed a medical supply warehouse serving nearly half a million people in an airstrike near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Al Jazeera that Gaza's health system is among the hardest hit, and it will take "generations" for residents to recover from trauma and loss. He warned that malnutrition, collapsed housing, and lack of clean water cannot be addressed while Israel continues to block entry of dual-use materials.

Gaza's Health Ministry said hospitals received two dead from wounds and six injured in the past 24 hours. The latest deaths bring the total killed since the "ceasefire" in October to 1,257, with 4,131 wounded. Overall, Israel's genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians since October 2023.