Gaza hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who is being held in an Israeli prison without trial and is reportedly in life-threatening condition, said this week that he was beaten and put in solitary confinement after a visit by his lawyer rallied lawmakers worldwide to call on Israel to grant him urgent medical care, the NGO Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said Thursday.
Abu Safiya’s claims warranted “an independent and impartial medical and legal examination,” PHRI said in a statement on X, adding that he told his lawyers to “do everything possible to get me out” of the underground wind of the maximum-security facility he is imprisoned in during a visit earlier this week.
According to PHRI, this week’s visit did not ensure confidential communication, as masked guards stood by in an adjacent room within earshot, and the conversation was conducted through a telephone receiver, with Abu Safiya’s lawyers sitting behind an opaque screen.
Last week, in response to a High Court of Justice petition filed by PHRI seeking the release of the 14 Gazan doctors whom Israel is holding without charge,Israel’s government said Abu Safiya’s life was not in danger, and “is under continuous medical supervision, treated by medical personnel according to their professional discretion and at no stage was there any indication of danger to his life.”
The petition was largely based on an affidavit by Abu Safiya’s lawyer, who said the doctor struggled to breathe and speak during the visit, appeared extremely weak and seemed close to losing consciousness several times.
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