Israel faces growing pressure Saturday, following the arrest of a Gaza hospital chief during a raid on one of the last functioning medical establishments in the battered north of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel confirmed in recent days that it was detaining Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and defended its attack that closed Kamal Adwan Hospital, saying the prominent pediatrician was suspected of “involvement in terrorist activities and having a rank” within Hamas, which he said made the site a stronghold alongside another militant group.
But human rights groups and United Nations officials have questioned the claims, made by Israel without providing evidence, urging the US ally to release Abu Safiya or at least reveal his whereabouts as the fears are growing for his safety.
Concerns about the hospital director’s well-being come as Israel faces increasing scrutiny following a military offensive that the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says has pushed the system health services in Gaza on the “verge of total collapse”.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 170 people, including several children, in Gaza last week and hit a humanitarian zone declared by Israel, local officials said, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the enclave as it is grappling with the effects of a winter under siege. .
Rights groups sound alarm
Independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said they were “gravely concerned” about the fate of Abu Safiya, “another doctor harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained” by Israeli forces.
In a statement released on Thursday, UN special rapporteurs Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng and Francesca Albanese noted that Abou Safiya’s son was killed in front of him before his arrest and was recently injured while he was on duty.
An Israeli human rights group has filed a petition with the country’s highest court demanding to know the whereabouts of Abu Safiya. Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) said in a statement Thursday that Abu Safiya’s case “is part of a broader pattern of non-disclosure and unreliable information provided by the military.” Israeli and prison authorities regarding Palestinian detainees.
The Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, expressed her extreme concern at the latest information regarding the fate of Abu Safiya. She warned on X on Thursday that he was at “great risk of torture and mistreatment”, calling on Israel to reveal his whereabouts.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a U.S.-based civil rights organization, on Friday called on the Biden administration to secure Abu Safiya’s release.
The United States is in contact with the Israeli government, as well as its partners on the ground, and is collecting information on Abu Safiya, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea said Friday. to the Security Council. She said it was “vital for Israel to respect international humanitarian law and take all possible measures to prevent civilian harm” to patients and medical professionals.
Israeli forces attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital late last month, arresting many people and forcing the closure of the medical facility. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces stormed inside and “forcibly” removed health workers, patients and their family members, while military vehicles surrounded the hospital.
Video captured outside the hospital and verified by NBC News showed Abu Safiya, dressed in a white medical coat, walking alone toward a military vehicle.
The Israel Defense Forces initially confirmed that Abu Safiya had been arrested and questioned, saying he was being detained as a “suspect” and being questioned for “potential involvement in terrorist activity.”
Amid a growing outcry, the Israeli military said Thursday that Abu Safiya had been “apprehended for his alleged involvement in terrorist activities and for his membership in the Hamas terrorist organization, while hundreds of Hamas terrorists Hamas and Islamic Jihad were hiding inside Kamal Adwan Hospital under his leadership.” .”
He said he was currently under investigation by Israeli forces. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News on where Abu Safiya was being held, after family members and fellow detainees expressed concerns in media interviews that he was at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Daniel Meron, said Friday that the raid on Kamal Adwan was triggered by “irrefutable evidence” that the facility was being used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. He said Israeli forces had taken “extraordinary measures to protect civilian life while acting on credible intelligence.”
Meron’s justification for the raid was written in a letter published on X and addressed to the World Health Organization, as well as UN human rights chief Volker Turk.
But Turk told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Israel had not “substantiated many of these claims,” many of which, he said, “appear to be contradicted by publicly available information.” .
“I call for independent, thorough and transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks on hospitals, health infrastructure and medical personnel, as well as the alleged misuse of these facilities,” he said before the organization made up of 15 members.
The outcry over the raid is part of broader concern over Israel’s treatment of Gaza’s health system, which has been ruined by the ongoing conflict.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Friday that the three public hospitals operating in the northern Gaza Strip – Beit Hanoun Hospital, Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital – are now all out of service.
Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, director of field hospitals at Gaza’s Ministry of Health, told NBC News on Friday that the Israeli army had “completely destroyed all wards of the Indonesian hospital, including generators, l ‘electricity, oxygen stations and fuel tanks’.
IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said on evacuation to hospital.
More than 1,057 Palestinian health workers have been killed so far in Gaza and many have been arbitrarily arrested, according to the UN.
Hospitals and medical personnel are considered protected by international law, which says they must never become targets of war.
More than 45,500 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities, since Israeli forces launched their offensive in the enclave following the Hamas-led terrorist attack on October 7, in which Israeli authorities say around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decades-long conflict.
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