Person of the Year 2024: Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and Gaza Health Care Workers
They are a moral compass for us all bearing witness. They practice life and humanity in the face of colonial genocidal occupation. We owe them everything.
From Al-Jazeera: Who is Hussam Abu Safiya, Director of Key Gaza Hospital Detained by Israel?
Concerns are rising about the safety of the director of one of the last partially functioning hospitals in northern Gaza after the Israeli military detained him.
Hussam Abu Safiya, 51, was arrested by Israeli forces during their raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday. It is not known where he has been taken. The World Health Organization said it lost contact with Abu Safiya after the raid, which also saw the Israeli military force out dozens of medical staff and patients. The director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Barsh, said Abu Safiya was severely beaten with batons and sticks by Israeli forces, who forced him to strip and put on clothes meant for prisoners. It was the second time in as many months that Abu Safiya had been detained by Israeli forces as they conduct their genocide in Gaza.
Here’s what you need to know about him:
Abu Safiya, a pediatrician by training, is a prominent figure in Gaza’s healthcare system. He holds a master’s degree and a Palestinian board certification in pediatrics and neonatology.
Abu Safiya refused multiple Israeli orders to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital after the Israeli military imposed a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip on October 5. The siege saw Israel cut off supplies of food and water to the Palestinians in the area while launching air strikes and conducting shelling, killing hundreds of civilians.
The siege also has had a devastating impact on the region’s hospitals. Abu Safiya was briefly arrested and then released when Israeli forces stormed the facility in late October and detained 44 of its staff members, leaving him and a handful of medical workers to care for dozens of wounded people. During the same operation, Israeli forces killed Abu Safiya’s son Ibrahim in a drone strike at the gate of the hospital. The doctor led the funeral prayers for his son in the hospital’s courtyard as he accused the Israeli military of killing his son to punish him for refusing to leave the hospital.
In spite of the siege, the medical team, which included a few doctors such as Abu Safiya and a small group of nurses, remained at the hospital, refusing repeated orders from the Israeli military to leave. By staying put in the hospital, Abu Safiya had kept the world informed of Israel’s near-daily attacks, issuing video statements and pleading for international intervention to end the attacks. He was wounded by shrapnel from an Israeli drone attack on the hospital on November 23 while he was exiting the operating room. He sustained six shrapnel wounds to his thigh, which caused ruptures in his veins and arteries. But he pleaded to continue his work.
“This will not stop us,” he said. “I was injured at my workplace, and that is an honor. My blood is no more precious than that of my colleagues or the people we serve. I will return to my patients as soon as I recover.”
Israel Must Free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya
On December 27, 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces completed their months-long siege of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning hospital in north Gaza, raiding and burning down the facility, and conducting deliberate killings, field executions, and acts of sexual assault and humiliation against medical personnel, patients, and other civilians. As part of this criminal rampage, Israeli forces abducted the hospital's director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, along with hundreds of other hospital staff and patients. After standing up against 447 days of genocide and 83 days of complete extermination and ethnic cleansing in north Gaza, Dr. Abu Safiya now faces an even more terrifying future, experienced by other medical professionals in Gaza: torture and eventual execution by Israeli forces.
For months, Dr. Abu Safiya - who holds a Kazakhstani passport and could have evacuated the Gaza Strip long ago - remained at Kamal Adwan, standing alongside his staff and patients as the facility was bombarded, raided, and denied basic medical supplies and humanitarian aid, including food, by Israel. Starting in early October, Dr. Abu Safiya issued repeated calls to the international community, on a near daily basis, detailing the inhumane conditions Israel had created and pleading for help. Some of these calls were published as an edited collection in The New York Times in early December.
To punish him for this dedication to his patients and try and force him to abandon his post, Israel assassinated Dr. Abu Safiya's fifteen-year-old son in late October as the boy stood at Kamal Adwan's entrance. A few weeks later, Israel targeted Dr. Abu Safiya himself while he was inside the hospital, injuring him critically.
These attacks against Dr. Abu Safiya and Kamal Adwan Hospital are part of Israel's well-established practice - as documented by countless international organizations - of destroying Gaza's health care system and otherwise creating conditions of life calculated to destroy the Palestinian population in whole or in part, which is an act of genocide. Israel has also attacked and killed those trying to protect and preserve Gaza's medical system, including aid workers and humanitarians like Mahmoud Almadhoun, who provided food and water to Kamal Adwan, as it was being besieged. Israel assassinated al-Madhoun on November 30, 2024 because of his life-saving work in north Gaza.
International law prohibits deliberate or willful attacks against medical facilities and personnel, as well as the wounded and sick, and obligates parties to a conflict to affirmatively protect these facilities and persons from harm. In this case, as in others, Israel has attempted to skirt these obligations by claiming that Kamal Adwan, its medical professionals, and patients are part of Hamas, affiliated with Hamas, or being used by Hamas for military purposes, while providing no credible evidence to support their claims. In Dr. Abu Safiya's case, Israeli forces allowed him to remain in the hospital for months, after detaining patients and other medical personnel at the hospital in late October. Now, Israel is claiming, against all reason and without any proof, that, all this time, Dr. Abu Safiya was a Hamas operative and that his detention and abduction are justified. Only a few months ago, Israel used a similar manufactured logic to justify the detention, torture, and killing of another one of Gaza's dedicated and beloved doctors, Adnan al-Bursh.
We call on the international community, particularly the United States, to use its influence and authority to force Israel to immediately release Dr. Abu Safiya and other medical personnel and patients detained at Kamal Adwan. We further call on the international community to take steps to ensure that Kamal Adwan is re-opened, that its staff is allowed to return, and that it is furnished with the aid and necessary supplies to serve the sick, injured, and dying in north Gaza.
Healthcare is not a crime. Deliberately attacking hospitals, medical staff, and patients is.
From +972 Magazine: “I Will Stay Inside My Hospital Until the Last Moment”
“The Israeli army does not know what it wants. They detained me for a few hours and interrogated me about whether there were fighters inside the hospital, and demanded that I evacuate the hospital completely, but I refused and assured them that there were only patients inside the hospital. But 57 of the hospital’s medical staff were arrested, and we still do not know anything about them [some have been released following this conversation, but the majority remain in Israeli detention]. So we are suffering from a severe shortage of doctors, especially surgeons. Right now, we only have pediatricians — it is a huge challenge to work under these circumstances.
I refused to leave the hospital and sacrifice my patients, so the army punished me by killing my son. I saw him die at the entrance gate — it was a great shock. I found a grave for him near one of the hospital’s walls, so that he could stay close to me.”
From Electronic Intifada: Injured Palestinian Doctor Remains Relentless
At Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has become a symbol of resilience in the face of unimaginable horror. That horror is ongoing as the hospital and surrounding area remained under Israeli attack this past weekend. Injured, traumatized and fearful people taking shelter there are facing the threat of forced evacuation.
The pediatrician and hospital director has endured weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment, the death of his 15-year-old son, Ibrahim, and even his own injury, all while refusing to abandon his patients. Amid the siege of his hospital – with Israeli bombardment continuing over this past week – Abu Safiya’s story underscores the human cost of war and the extraordinary courage it takes to preserve life in the face of death.
From Doctors for Humanity: Release the Doctors, Stop the Bombing, End the Blockade
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, head of one of Northern Gaza's last partially functioning hospital, has been arrested by the Israeli military following bombing of the hospital and illegal abduction of doctors and wounded patients by the Israeli military.
Dr. Abu Safiya is a pediatrician and was illegally abducted by the Israeli military after he refused to leave the Kamal Adwan hospital following bombing of the hospital. The heavy shelling resulted in fires in the hospital burning health care workers and patients. Dr. Abu Safiya was arrested by Israeli forces during their raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza on Friday December 27, 2024. The WHO states that it has lost communication with Dr. Abu Safiya following his arrest.
We the medical community demand immediate release of Dr. Abu Safiya and an immediate end to the bombing of hospitals and targeted kidnapping and killing of healthcare workers in Gaza. Bombing of hospitals and kidnapping, torturing and killing doctors and healthcare workers is illegal and immoral and a crime according to the Genocide Convention.
Experts in genocide including The United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors without Borders, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Doctors Against Genocide, have all concluded that Israel is committing genocidal acts against the Palestinian people. These are credible voices and their warnings must not be ignored.
More than 14 months of relentless indiscriminate carpet bombing of Gaza and blockade of food, water, fuel have resulted in more than 186,000 deaths majority of whom are women and children.
In addition to the relentless bombing of hospitals and civilian infrastructure, starvation is also being used as a weapon of genocide due to the illegal and immoral blockade on entry of food, water and medical care into Gaza by the Israeli forces. Canada must demand respect and upholding of the rulings of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and urgently demand protection of civilians, provision of humanitarian aid and immediate release of Dr. Abu Safiya and all healthcare workers and patients illegally kidnapped by Israeli forces.
The following demands are presented on behalf of more than 10,000 North American physicians and numerous medical organizations.
Immediately release Dr. Abu Safiya and all healthcare workers and patients illegally kidnapped at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza.
Immediately stop the bombing and impose an arms embargo on Israel.
Immediately end the blockade on food, water, and medical supplies for Gaza.
From Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Hospitals in Gaza Have Become Battlegrounds
Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat. Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is out of service — following the raid, forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya two days ago. His whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release. The critical patients were moved to Indonesian Hospital, which is itself out of function. Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian Hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital. Four patients were detained during the transfer. We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld. Seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remain at the severely damaged Indonesian Hospital, which has no ability to provide care. Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City also faced attacks today and both are damaged. We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!
From Gaza Ministry of Health: Release All Health Workers Detained by Israel
The Ministry of Health strongly condemned and denounced the detention and abuse of the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyya, by the Israeli occupation forces on Saturday. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Ministry of Health stated that this incident represents another violation of human rights and the rights of health workers, who are on the front lines of protecting citizens' health and providing necessary medical care.
The Ministry condemned this recurring criminal act, calling for the immediate release of the detained doctor and urgent intervention to secure the release of other health workers detained in Israeli prisons. It also reiterated its urgent appeal for the full protection of all health workers to ensure they can carry out their professional duties in a safe and secure environment.
The Ministry noted that before Dr. Abu Safiyya’s detention, Israeli forces had detained him along with hospital staff and interrogated them for hours. This scene has been repeated in every attack by Israeli forces on medical centers across the southern governorates, it added. The Ministry emphasized that any assault on doctors or patients, or their detention due to their humanitarian duty in serving citizens, constitutes a violation of their human and professional rights.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have detained more than 310 health workers from various specialties, and approximately 1,060 health workers have been killed, some while being tortured in custody. Hundreds more have been injured, representing a significant loss of skilled personnel and expertise, and a blow to the health system as a whole, the Ministry of Health maintained.
The Ministry affirmed that any threat or attack on doctors or health workers is a threat to public safety and to citizens' right to receive medical care in a secure and stable environment.
From Gaza Notifications: “We Wept Tears of Blood”
Nurse Walid Al-Budi shared the final moments leading up to Dr. Husam Abu Safiya’s arrest. Dr. Abu Safiya was detained at Al-Fakhoura School after choosing not to abandon his medical team, despite being given a chance to escape. Prioritizing their safety, he stayed behind to ensure they were taken to safety, but he was met with hostility and eventually arrested. Al-Budi called on the international community and human rights organizations to support Dr. Abu Safiya, emphasizing his vital role in fostering resilience and determination in northern Gaza. Recalling the moment they were forcibly removed from Kamal Adwan Hospital by occupation forces, he said, “We wept tears of blood.”
From the United Nations Human Rights Office: Israeli Attacks Turn Gaza Hospitals Into Death Traps
Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, have pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.
A report published by the Office documents attacks carried out between 12 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit – or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function – acts harmful to the enemy.
“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times,”.
The study has been released just days after the last functioning major healthcare facility in northern Gaza, Kama Adwan Hospital, was taken out of service after a raid by Israeli military forces, leaving the population of North Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care. Staff and patients were forced to flee or were taken into custody, with many reports of torture and ill-treatment. The director of the hospital was taken into custody and his fate and whereabouts are unknown.
From Human Rights Watch: Palestinian Healthcare Workers Tortured
Israeli forces have arbitrarily detained Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza since hostilities began in October 2023, deported them to detention facilities in Israel, and allegedly tortured and ill-treated them, Human Rights Watch said today. The detention of healthcare workers in the context of the Israeli military’s repeated attacks on hospitals in Gaza has contributed to the catastrophic degradation of the besieged territory’s healthcare system.
Released doctors, nurses and paramedics described to Human Rights Watch their mistreatment in Israeli custody, including humiliation, beatings, forced stress positions, prolonged cuffing and blindfolding, and denial of medical care. They also reported torture, including rape and sexual abuse by Israeli forces, denial of medical care, and poor detention conditions for the general detainee population…
All the healthcare workers interviewed provided similar accounts of mistreatment in Israeli custody. After being in Gaza, they were deported to detention facilities in Israel, including the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev desert and Ashkelon prison, or, forcibly transferred to the Anatot military base near East Jerusalem and the Ofer detention facility, in the occupied West Bank. All said that they were stripped, beaten, and blindfolded and handcuffed, for many weeks on end, and pressured to confess to being members of the Hamas movement with various threats of indefinite detention, rape, and killing their families in Gaza.
A surgeon said he was “wearing scrubs and Crocs” when Israeli forces detained him during their siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, Gaza, in December. “We were 50 healthcare workers, including nurses and doctors,” he said. “The soldier on the microphone ordered men and boys over 15 years old to evacuate the hospital.... When they took us out of the hospital, they told us to undress and stay in our underwear.”
One paramedic said that at the Sde Teiman detention facility he was suspended from a chain attached to handcuffs, electroshocked, denied medical care for broken ribs caused by beatings, and administered what he believed was a psychoactive drug before interrogations. “It was so degrading, it was unbelievable,” he said. “I was helping people as a paramedic, I never expected something like this.”
Healthcare workers also reported being punished in detention for moving or speaking, and collectively punished if other detainees spoke. “Sometimes if one spoke, they [soldiers] punished the whole warehouse [at Naqab prison], collectively,” one healthcare worker said.
From Mohammad Alsaafin, Mosab Abu Toha: What Happens to the People Who Refuse to Leave the Patients
From Jehad Abusalim: Gaza Health Care Workers Will Be Remembered As Heroes
In an era where healthcare is deeply entwined with the capitalist logic of profit maximization—often prioritizing revenue over patient care—and where the role of doctors has been reduced to mere cogs in a profit-driven machine, the healthcare workers in Gaza offer a strikingly different example of what it means to be a doctor or nurse. Their role is defined by an unyielding commitment to stand by their patients—the injured, the vulnerable—in the face of a brutal killing machine that targets hospitals, healthcare workers, and patients alike.
Gaza’s healthcare workers are literally sacrificing their lives and freedoms to serve their patients, risking everything to uphold their oaths. No movies will be made about their heroism, their images won’t grace billboards or posters, and their names won’t be celebrated or remembered by their counterparts or by the media in the West. Yet history will remember them as heroes—true heroes who have always been so. A genocide didn’t need to happen for us to recognize their courage and devotion; the past 14 months only underscored what was always evident.
From Yipeng Ge: We Owe Them Everything
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and the Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza are a guiding light for us all in healthcare. They are a moral compass for us all bearing witness. They practice life and humanity in the face of colonial genocidal occupation. We owe them everything.