Published on: Oct 14, 2025 10:28 am IST
Hussam Abu Safiya is a hospital director in Gaza whom Israel refused to release in its latest ceasefire deal.
All Israeli and several Palestinian captives returned to their homes on Monday as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. However, the fate of a few detainees remains unclear, including Gaza hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was abducted by Israeli forces in December last year.
He was detained by Israeli forces during a raid in December 2024.(Amnesty International)
As part of the truce deal, Hamas released the remaining 20 living hostages, and Israel began the release of Palestinians that Tel Aviv was holding in its custody.
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While the exchange included most of the Palestinian prisoners, a few, including Safiya, were left out. As calls grow demanding his release, here’s a look at who he is:
Who is Dr Hussam Abu Safiya? Why was he captured?Safiya is a hospital director in Gaza whom Israel refused to release in its latest ceasefire deal. Another Palestinian doctor, Dr Marwan Al Hams, was also not released by Tel Aviv.He was detained by Israeli forces during a raid in December 2024 as they closed down Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya.Many Palestinian rights supporters consider Safiya a symbol of the determination shown by Palestinian doctors at a time when Israel repeatedly targeted Gaza’s health sector.According to the human rights watchdog Amnesty International, the medic has been held without any charges or trial under an Israeli security law after his arrest last year. At Kamal Adwan Hospital, Safiya worked as a paediatrician after his son was killed in an Israeli strike.Demanding his release, the group said, “Not until 11 February 2025 did Israeli authorities allow Dr Abu Safiya to meet with a legal counsel. In the latest visit by a lawyer to Ofer military prison in early July 2025, she reported that Dr Hussam and other detainees were subjected to assault and beatings.”Last December, during a raid by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Safiya refused to leave the hospital premises. When he eventually left, he was arrested and taken by the Israeli forces. Safiya’s detention has reportedly been extended every six months since then. His lawyer has said that Safiya has lost a huge amount of weight and is suffering from abuse in the Israeli prison.Why Israel refused to release Hussam Abu SafiyaIsrael suspects Safiya of being a “Hamas terrorist operative”. Earlier, former detainees told CNN that Safiya was being held at Sde Teiman, which is a military base in Israel’s Negev desert that is also used as a detention site.He has since been held under the designation of an “unlawful combatant”, according to Haaretz newspaper.Despite appeals from across the world demanding his release due to his alleged health issues, Israel has continued to hold him in detention and left him out of the latest exchange deal.A Palestinian detainee told Al Jazeera, “As we speak, Hussam Abu Safiya is subjected to severe torture,” after his release as part of the truce. 
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