The Israeli government, military and prison service did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including on whether charges had ever been brought against Abu Safiya, who the Israel Defense Forces said, without evidence, held “a rank” within Hamas.
UN experts said his detention continued to “appear manifestly arbitrary”. They said they had been in contact with the Israeli government about his case, but did not provide further details. They did not elaborate on the source of the information they said they received about his condition.
Abu Safiya’s family and The legal team representing him, both of whom have previously said he said he was tortured, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Abu Safiya became the voice of Palestinians besieged in Gaza during more than two years of Israeli assault on the enclave following attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The doctor, whose son was killed during the Israeli offensive, made headlines around the world in December 2024 after the images captured the last moments before he was arrested.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is seen walking down a debris-strewn street.Muhannad Al-Muqayed / FacebookIn the haunting video, Abu Safiya could be seen walking down a rubble-strewn road toward Israeli tanks, his white coat contrasting sharply with the debris around him.
The Israeli military initially denied that Abu Safiya was in its custody, but later claimed, without providing evidence, that he had been involved in “terrorist activities” and held “a rank” within Hamas.
It was claimed that Hamas militants were operating in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of several hospitals attacked in Gaza by the Israeli army after claiming it was a hub of Hamas activities.
Abu Safiya’s son and his colleagues, including at MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit, have categorically rejected the allegations against him. UN experts and human rights groups have accused Israel of targeted destruction of the Gaza health system.
Before his detention, Abu Safiya was the lead physician in Gaza for MedGlobal, a Chicago-based organization that has partnered with local health professionals in Gaza for years and organized medical missions to the enclave.
Dr. Abu Safiya is treated by his colleagues for his injuries following an Israeli strike in the northern Gaza Strip in November 2024.AFP via Getty Images“I would say his torture and imprisonment is unimaginable,” John Kahler, a co-founder of MedGlobal who worked alongside Abu Safiya during his visits to Gaza, told NBC News on Wednesday. But “unfortunately, that’s not the case,” Kahler said, pointing to a increasing number of reports alleged abuses suffered by Palestinians detained by Israelis.
“Dr. Abu Safiya committed the unforgivable ‘crime’ of defending his patients time and time again,” he said, adding that instead of a prisoner, he should be seen as a “beacon of moral clarity to the world.”
“I don’t really have a lot of words to describe the anger that builds knowing that he’s still languishing in these prisons,” said Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency room doctor who is a board member of the Palestinian American Medical Association and who worked alongside Abu Safiya before the Gaza war.
He said in a telephone interview that it was “ridiculous” for Israel to suggest that Abu Safiya “worked in a pediatric intensive care unit by day and by night he was a military warrior” and accused Israeli authorities of confusing the work of Gaza’s Health Ministry, which was reportedly run by Hamas as the governing authority in the territory, with the group’s militant operations.
After Abu Safiya’s detention was upheld by an Israeli court in March last year, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which represented the detained doctor, maintained his innocence, saying in a statement press release that he “only carried out medical and administrative tasks at Kamal Adwan Hospital”.
Pro-Palestinian protesters demanding the release of Dr. Abu Safiya gather in Toronto, Canada in 2025.Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty ImagesIt had been hoped that Abu Safiya could be freed in the final exchange of hostages held in Gaza for the freedom of Palestinians held by Israel at the start of the current ceasefire. But his family’s hopes were dashed when it was announced in October that his the detention was extendedfree of charge.
Dozens of Palestinian health workers are believed to remain in Israeli custody, while six have died in custody since October 7, 2023, according to Healthcare Workers Watch, an initiative that documents detentions in Gaza. In total, up to 1,200 health workers were killed during the Israeli offensive in the enclave in February 2025, according to the organization.
Those who remain in Israeli detention are among more than 9,400 people detained by Israel this month, including more than 3,400 held in “administrative detention,” according to data released by HaMokedan Israeli human rights organization.
Under this widely condemned practice, Israeli authorities detain people indefinitely without trial or other customary legal procedures, often on the basis of so-called secret evidence that they do not share with the detainees, their families or their legal representatives.
