An Israeli rights group warned Thursday that a prominent Gaza doctor and hospital director detained in an Israeli prison is suffering from severe mistreatment and medical neglect, with his health in decline.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) said Hussam Abu Safiyeh, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital until last year, was being kept in "harsh detention conditions" without legal proceedings.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a 52-year-old pediatrician, gained attention last year for highlighting the deteriorating conditions at his hospital in Beit Lahia amid Israel’s military operations in northern Gaza.
On Dec. 27, Israeli forces launched a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, which they alleged was being used as a Hamas "terrorist center." During the operation, dozens of medical personnel, including Dr. Abu Safiya, were arrested.
According to his legal representative, Abu Safiya’s detention conditions violate international humanitarian standards.
PHRI said its lawyer visited him Thursday at Ofer prison, north of Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, reporting that he had lost around 25 kilograms (55 pounds) since his arrest due to insufficient food.
The group also said he had been subjected to violence during cell searches and was denied treatment for scabies despite repeated requests.
Human rights groups have repeatedly warned of difficult conditions in Israeli jails, including scabies outbreaks. Several NGOs petitioned Israel's supreme court last year seeking to stop the spread of the contagious skin condition in jails.
PHRI further said that since March, Abu Safiyeh "has not been brought before a judge, has not been interrogated, and has received no information about the grounds for his detention."
Israel's prison service did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Rights group Amnesty International had echoed the call, saying Abu Safiyeh had been the "voice of Gaza's decimated health sector."
In August 2025, the WHO said it had documented 720 attacks on healthcare in Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023.
It said that at least 1,580 health workers were killed and an unknown number detained by Israel.
