Israel faced mounting pressure on Saturday over the detention of a hospital director in the Gaza Strip during a raid on one of the last functioning medical facilities in the devastated northern part of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel has confirmed in recent days that it has detained Dr. Hassam Abu Safiyah, defending the assault that led to the closure of Kamal Adwan Hospital, and has accused the prominent pediatrician of “engaging in terrorist activities. He is suspected of holding a position with Hamas.” said it was based there along with another militant group.
But rights groups and U.N. officials have questioned those claims, which Israel has made without providing evidence, and urged U.S. allies to call on Abu Safiyah amid growing concerns about his safety. They are demanding that he be released or at least reveal his whereabouts.
Concerns for the hospital director’s safety come as Israel faces intense scrutiny over a military offensive that the United Nations human rights office said this week was pushing Gaza’s health system “on the brink of complete collapse.” It’s for a reason.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 170 people in the Gaza Strip over the past week, including several children, and Israeli-declared humanitarian zones have also been attacked, leading to a humanitarian crisis in the enclave grappling with the effects of a winter under siege. Local officials have announced that the situation has become even more serious. .
Rights groups sound the alarm
Independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said they were “gravely concerned” about the fate of Abu Safiyah, “yet another doctor harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained” by Israeli forces. said.
In a statement released on Thursday, UN special rapporteurs Dr. Tlalen Mofokeng and Francesca Albanese said that Ms Abu Safiyah’s son was killed in front of her eyes before being taken into custody and that she had recently been injured in the line of duty. He pointed out that he did.
Israeli human rights groups have petitioned the country’s highest court demanding information on Abu Safiyah’s whereabouts. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) said in a statement on Thursday that Abu Safiyah’s case “participates in a widespread pattern of private and unreliable information provided by the Israeli military and prison authorities regarding Palestinian detainees. It is part of the
Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard expressed extreme alarm at the latest information on Abu Safiyah’s whereabouts. She warned X on Thursday that he was “at great risk of torture and ill-treatment” and called on Israel to reveal his whereabouts.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a US-based civil rights group, called on the Biden administration on Friday to secure Abu Safiyah’s release.
The United States is in contact with the Israeli government and partners on the ground and gathering information about Abu Safiyah, Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the Security Council on Friday. He said it is “critically important” for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law and take all possible measures to prevent harm to civilians, both for patients and medical professionals.
Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital late last month, detaining scores of people and forcing the closure of the medical facility. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Israeli troops entered the hospital and “forcibly” removed medical workers, patients and families as military vehicles surrounded the hospital.
A video taken outside the hospital and seen by NBC News showed Abu Safiyah wearing a white medical coat walking alone toward a military vehicle.
The Israel Defense Forces initially announced that Abu Safiyah had been taken into custody, confirming that he was being held as a “suspect” and being interrogated for “possible involvement in terrorist activities.”
Amid growing outcry, the IDF said Thursday that Abu Safiyah was suspected of involvement in terrorist activities while “hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were hiding inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital under his control.” He was arrested on suspicion of holding a position in a Hamas terrorist organization.” ”
He announced that he is currently under investigation by the Israeli military. The Israeli Defense Forces have not been able to confirm where Abu Safiyah was being held after family members and fellow detainees expressed concerns in media interviews that Abu Safiyah may have been at the Sude Teiman military base in southern Israel. He did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment on whether or not he was there.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Mellon said Friday that the attack on Kamal Adwan was prompted by “irrefutable evidence” that the facility was being used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. He said the Israeli military had taken “extraordinary measures to protect civilian lives, while acting on reliable information.”
Mellon’s justification for the attack was laid out in a letter posted on X to the World Health Organization and top UN human rights official Volker Turk.
But Mr. Turkey told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Israel “has not substantiated many of these claims,” many of which “appear to be contradicted by publicly available information.” Ta.
“I call for an independent, thorough, and transparent investigation into all Israeli attacks on hospitals, medical infrastructure, and health workers, and into the alleged misuse of such facilities,” he said in a 15-member coalition. spoke to the group.
The protests over the attack are part of a larger pattern of concern over Israel’s treatment of Gaza’s health system, which has been devastated by the ongoing conflict.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Friday that all three public hospitals operating in the northern Gaza Strip – Beit Hanun Hospital, Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital – are currently closed.
Dr. Marwan Alhams, director of the Gaza Health Ministry field hospital, told NBC News on Friday that Israeli forces had “completely destroyed all services of the Indonesian hospital, including generators, electricity, oxygen stations, and fuel tanks.” Ta.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Nadav Shoshani said on the He denied reports that he had done so.
More than 1,057 Palestinian health and medical professionals have been killed in Gaza, many arbitrarily arrested, according to the United Nations.
Hospitals and medical workers are considered protected by international law, which prohibits them from becoming targets of war.
More than 45,500 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israeli forces launched an offensive in the enclave after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attack, local officials say, and Israeli authorities say around 1,200 people have died in the Gaza Strip. It has been announced that approximately 250 people have died. Others were taken hostage, significantly escalating a decades-old conflict.
