United Nations experts have called on Israel to immediately release Palestinian physician Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and all health and care workers held in what they described as arbitrary detention.
The experts said Abu Safiya's continued detention without charge or trial reflects Israel's systematic targeting of Palestinian health workers and the continued destruction of Gaza's health system. They said the targeting was aimed at inflicting conditions leading to the mental and physical destruction of Palestinians.
The independent experts include special rapporteurs Francesca Albanese, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Morris Tidball-Binz, and Ben Saul.
Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was detained by Israeli forces on 27 December 2024, when the facility was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza. The experts said he was illegally detained alongside other medical staff and patients under Israel's Unlawful Combatants Law, a statute they previously flagged as incompatible with international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
