Hussam Abu Safiya's 'inhumane conditions' in Israeli detention worsening

Middle East Eye

18-04-2025

Hussam Abu Safiya and other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli-run detention centres are facing increasingly "inhumane conditions" and torture, according to his lawyer.
Gheed Kassem said in an interview with Alaraby TV that she has visited the paediatrician, who is the director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital, three times, with "each visit being more difficult than the one before".
"To be honest, what I have heard from him was incredibly shocking, to the point where I don't even know if its right to reveal to the media," she said.
According to Kassem, detainees from Gaza were "beaten and assaulted in a monstrous way" during the celebration of Eid al-Fitr earlier this month.
"I have not met one prisoner in the last week, unfortunately, who was not beaten or assaulted," she said.
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"The situation is escalating, the starvation is increasing, the torture is increasing, the isolation from the outside world is increasing, the threats are increasing, and no one has been able to put a boundary for these escalations."
Abu Safiya's lawyer said even an able-bodied healthy individual would come out suffering with health conditions following Israeli detainment.
Kassem stressed that Abu Safiya is not the only innocent prisoner facing such cruel conditions, but in fact, entire medical crews and even patients who were detained from inside Gaza hospitals are suffering the same.
"As rights advocates and lawyers, we are ashamed to even talk about the levels of torture happening," she said, citing stomping on faces, humiliation and forced consumption of sewage water as some of the lighter treatment Palestinians face.
Kassem noted that prisoners are forced to take part in acts that would be "morally denounced worldwide".
"Their honour is stepped on every day, every minute. Their mistreatment is incredibly horrible."
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In the case of Abu Safiya, she says his head was hit on a metal pillar just days ago.
Abu Safiya has been categorised as an "unlawful combatant" under Israel - despite him being a civilian doctor, which means there is no formal indictment against him.
He is set to remain in administrative detention until at least September or October.
Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners' rights group, says nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently imprisoned, including around 400 children and 27 women.
It estimates that roughly 40 percent of all Palestinian men have been detained at some point by Israel in their lifetime.
The group also reports that almost 3,500 people are being held under administrative detention - imprisoned without formal charges or access to legal proceedings.
In late October, Abu Safiya's son was killed by an Israeli raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital.
"Despite the monstrous happenings inside the prisons, medical personnele, including Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, until now their main concern is the state of hospitals in the Gaza Strip," Kassem said.
"Until this second, the thing that he asks about is the conditions hospitals are facing amid the current and apparent genocide in Gaza."