GENEVA (MNTV) — A UN commission on Wednesday urged Israel to release without delay Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who heads Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, along with every Palestinian medical worker held in arbitrary detention, voicing alarm at reports that he has faced “severe abuse” in custody.
In a statement, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said it was gravely concerned by credible accounts that Abu Safiya has endured continuous mistreatment since Israeli authorities detained him in December 2024.
The commission demanded his “immediate, unconditional and safe release” and pressed Israeli authorities to arrange independent medical care for him right away.
It described the ongoing arbitrary detention of Palestinian medical staff and their reported abuse as “deplorable and flagrant violations of international law.”
The treatment Abu Safiya has reportedly suffered, the commission said, mirrors a wider pattern it has traced in earlier reports, which concluded that Israeli security forces had “deliberately killed, wounded, detained and severely mistreated medical personnel.”
Restating those earlier findings, the commission said such conduct amounted to the war crimes of willful killing and torture, as well as the crime against humanity of extermination.
It also pointed back to its prior determination that Israeli authorities had committed genocide by pursuing a policy of targeting Gaza’s healthcare system and its medical workers since October 2023.
The commission called on Israel to free Abu Safiya and all arbitrarily detained Palestinians in line with international humanitarian and human rights law, adding that it would keep investigating alleged violations and pass evidence to the relevant judicial bodies.