Thousands of doctors launch social media campaign for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s release

Healthcare professionals worldwide have launched an online campaign demanding the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained by Israeli forces on Dec. 27, 2024.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya detained during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was arrested during an Israeli military raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

According to eyewitness reports and Gaza health officials, the raid involved violent confrontations, fires in hospital departments, and reported mistreatment of medical staff and patients.

The hospital, previously one of the last functioning healthcare facilities in northern Gaza, has been rendered non-operational following the raid.

Reports indicate that Abu Safiya has been transferred to the Sde Teiman detention center, a facility in the Negev Desert known for alleged instances of mistreatment and abuse of detainees.

Sde Teiman detention center

The unnamed doctor, who served at the Sde Teiman facility during the past winter, described appalling scenes inside the medical tents. “In one hospitalization tent, there were no more than 20 patients. All had their four limbs shackled to old steel beds, like the ones used in our hospitals years ago. All were conscious and all were blindfolded all the time,” said the doctor.

“Every physician knows that what such a person needs is a day or two in intensive care and then to be moved to a ward. … But the person was sent to a pen in Sde Teiman two hours after surgery,” the doctor said.

“To hold a person without letting them move any of their limbs, blindfolded, naked, under treatment, in the middle of the desert, … in the end, it’s no less than torture,” he noted.

Reflecting on his time at Sde Teiman, the doctor said: “It all felt so surrealistic to me, just a quarter of an hour’s drive from Be’er Sheva. Like, everything I’d been taught, all the years in university and in hospitals, how to treat people – all that exists, but in an environment in which 20 people are being held naked in a tent. It’s something you can’t imagine.”

Global medical community mobilizes support

Doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals from around the world have rallied behind Dr. Abu Safiya, using the hashtag #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiyeh on social media platforms. Participants have shared photos holding signs with the hashtag while calling for international action.

Prominent voices in the medical field, including physicians from Türkiye, Egypt, the UK, Brazil, Canada, and India, have joined the campaign.

A petition on the Change.org platform has gathered over 2,000 signatures, urging the U.S. government and international leaders to advocate for Abu Safiya’s release.

“Healthcare is not a crime. Deliberately attacking hospitals, medical staff, and patients is,” reads the petition addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Family, colleagues appeal for action

Abu Safiya’s family has also issued public appeals for his release. In a video statement, his son described the suffering endured by his father, including serious injuries sustained earlier in the conflict.

“We have received testimonies from released detainees confirming our father has been subjected to humiliation and abuse—including being forced to undress and being used as a human shield,” his son said, calling on international rights organizations to intervene.

Wider impact on healthcare in northern Gaza

The destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the detention of its director have significantly impacted access to healthcare in northern Gaza. With the hospital no longer functional, thousands of civilians are left without critical medical services amid ongoing conflict.

Global health organizations, including MedGlobal, where Abu Safiya also serves, have been advocating for his release. Joseph Belliveau, MedGlobal’s Executive Director, stated that their team has been coordinating efforts with U.S. authorities, European Union representatives, and the United Nations.

“Where exactly are they? What are their conditions? What are they being accused of? How are they being treated? Nothing has been answered,” Belliveau said.

Dr. Abu Safiya reported that he was hit by an Israeli quadcopter strike while in his hospital office, resulting in shrapnel injuries to his thigh and back that has caused serious bleeding and requires surgical care. Like so many of his patients and staff, he is now in need of a level of care that his hospital struggles to provide – due to the ongoing attacks and siege that has severely damaged or destroyed key hospital infrastructure, cut off access to medical supplies and other aid, and prevented additional medical aid personnel from reaching the hospital. 

Dr. Abu Safiya and his colleagues at Kamal Adwan are true humanitarians working to provide urgently needed medical care in the most desperate and violent circumstances

We stand unequivocally with Dr. Abu Safiya, with our colleagues who have been wrongfully detained, and with all the staff and patients desperately trying to survive the siege and attacks on Kamal Adwan and the surrounding area. We are dismayed by the ongoing pattern of direct bombings of healthcare facilities and staff, who should never be targets in any conflict. These are egregious violations of IHL.

MedGlobal