Gaza health chief urges action to ‘save’ Dr Abu Safia before it’s too late

The director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health has called for urgent action to “save” the life of detained Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia before it is “too late”.

The paediatrician has been held by Israel since ۲۰۲۴ and “serious concerns are mounting” over his life and health, Dr Muneer al-Boursh posted on X on Saturday.

He noted reports that Abu Safia has been assaulted while in an Israeli detention facility and has sustained injuries to his eye, head and chest.

Abu Safia’s ongoing detention and lack of medical care have made his health condition a “source of extreme alarm that demands urgent action not postponed statements,” al-Boursh added.

Abu Safia was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital who led the facility, one of the last functioning in northern Gaza, through an ۸۵-day siege before Israeli forces raided it and detained him on December ۲۷, ۲۰۲۴.

He has been held without charge under Israel’s unlawful combatant law, which permits indefinitely renewable detention; Israel’s supreme court rejected an appeal for his release in June. His lawyer, who visited him last month, reported new signs of beatings and torture. Rights groups, including Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, have warned that his life is in imminent danger.

Al-Boursh said the “irony” of Abu Safia’s detention “is agonising”.

“Dr Hussam Abu Safia, who stayed by his patients’ side at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the bleakest of circumstances, now finds himself behind bars, stripped of his freedom, as fears grow for his physical safety and detention conditions.” he wrote.

“We hold the [Israeli] occupation authorities fully responsible for his life and safety, and we demand an urgent, independent and comprehensive medical examination for him, ensuring he receives the necessary treatment,” al-Boursh added.

The ministry chief urged “freedom” for Abu Safia and all healthcare workers detained by Israel. He also called on the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the UN and medical and human rights groups to take action.

Israel ‘has not adhered to ceasefire’

The appeal came as Al Jazeera correspondents reported a sharp deterioration throughout Gaza’s health sector, nearly ۱۰ months into a “ceasefire” that Israel continues to breach on a near-daily basis.

On Saturday, three Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire north of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, reported the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Israeli forces had also carried out extensive demolition operations south of the city since this morning, while military vehicles continued firing east of Salah al-Din Street near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the centre of the enclave.

“The Israeli occupation has not adhered to the terms of the ceasefire, nor even to the protocol attached to this ceasefire,” said Al Jazeera’s Noor Khaled, reporting from Gaza City.

She added that the Israeli-controlled “yellow” zones now cover more than ۷۰ percent of the Strip, leaving Palestinians confined to less than ۳۰ percent – most of it destroyed.

Crossings remain largely closed and around ۲۰,۰۰۰ patients were waiting to be evacuated for treatment abroad, Khaled added. Of the ۶۰۰ aid trucks which should deliver daily, “what enters does not exceed ۲۵۰ trucks.”

From Deir al-Balah, correspondent Ashraf Abu Amra said Nasser Hospital had reported “three to four patients dying daily due to the shortage of medicines and medical supplies”.

Last week, Israeli forces destroyed a medical supply warehouse serving nearly half a million people in a direct strike near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s health system was among the hardest hit. “It will take generations” for Palestinians in Gaza to recover from the trauma and loss, he said. He warned that malnutrition, collapsing shelter and lack of safe drinking water could not be tackled while the entry of dual-use materials remained blocked by Israel.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said hospitals received two people who had died of their wounds and six injured in the past ۲۴ hours. The latest casualties increased the death toll since last October’s “ceasefire” to ۱,۲۵۷ and ۴,۱۳۱ wounded. In total, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than ۷۳,۰۰۰ Palestinians since October ۲۰۲۳.