Hussam Abu Safia, who documented abuses at Kamal Adwan, is believed to be at the Sde Teiman base known for ‘brutality, torture’.
The director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he was detained by Israel following a raid on the facility last week, is allegedly being held at a military base that doubles as a detention center, a CNN report says.
Hussam Abu Safia, 51, is said to be being held at the Sde Teiman base in Israel’s Negev desert, according to former Palestinian prisoners cited by the network who were released over the weekend from the controversial facility known for extreme prisoner abuse.
“Two Palestinian prisoners released this weekend from the facility said they saw Abu Safia in prison, and another former prisoner said he heard Abu Safia’s name being read,” said a CNN report published Monday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and authorities in Gaza said they lost contact with Abu Safia after Friday’s raid, in which the Israeli army set Kamal Adwan on fire and forcibly expelled dozens of medical staff and patients – closing the only partially functional one. hospital in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military confirmed on Saturday that it arrested the director after he was “suspected to be a Hamas terrorist operative” and the hospital was used as a “command and control center” without providing evidence for its claims.
When asked if Abu Safia had been transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not provide an immediate comment.
On Monday, Israeli media circulated a video of the moments before Abu Safia was detained by Israeli forces, footage that captured his efforts to move hundreds of patients and medical staff to safety after the Israeli military issued a 15-minute warning to evacuate the hospital.
‘Brutality and torture’
On Sunday, the Israeli military said its forces had killed around 20 Palestinians and captured “240 terrorists” in the raid, calling it one of its “largest operations” carried out in the territory.
Abu Safia had refused multiple Israeli orders to leave Kamal Adwan after the Israeli army imposed a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip on October 5.
The director-general of the Gaza Ministry of Health said the doctor, who had documented the brutal impact of Israel’s offensive on his hospital, was severely beaten with clubs and batons by Israeli forces during the raid, forced to strip and wear clothes intended for prisoners. .
Abu Safia’s family told CNN: “Sde Teiman is known for brutality and torture, we cannot imagine what our father is going through in that place and whether he is fine or not, warm or cold… hungry or in pain.” .
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, called for Abu Safia’s release in a post on X on Monday, saying that hospitals in Gaza had become “battlefields” and that the health system was “under severe threat”.
Tedros said patients in critical condition at Kamal Adwan had been transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, “which itself is out of order”.
“Amid the ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today sent basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to the Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to al-Shifa hospital,” he said.
“We call on Israel to ensure that their health care needs and rights are respected.”
He said seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remained at the Indonesian Hospital “severely injured”.
