LONDON: The image of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya walking toward Israeli forces before his arrest on Dec. 27, 2024, became one of the defining images of the Gaza war. New allegations about the Palestinian doctor’s treatment in Israeli custody have renewed calls for his release and raised fresh questions about the limits of international pressure on Israel.
Those concerns deepened after a July 2 prison visit by his lawyer, Nasser Odeh.
“This is the last time you will see me,” Abu Safiya told him, according to Odeh. “They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end.”
Following the visit to the underground Rakefet facility at Nitzan Prison, Odeh and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said Abu Safiya’s life was in “immediate danger.”
According to an affidavit cited by PHRI, Abu Safiya was brought to the meeting in hand and foot shackles, escorted by masked prison guards and suffering from fresh injuries to his head, eyes, ears and neck. Odeh said the doctor's physical and psychological condition had deteriorated dramatically since previous visits.
