Israel puts Palestinian doctor in solitary confinement after 17 months held without charge

The son of a prominent Palestinian doctor detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2024 and held for more than 500 days without formal charges has spoken of his deep concern for his father’s wellbeing after he was transferred without explanation to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison. Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, was detained at work on 27 December 2024. Physicians for Human Rights Israel said last week it had received information indicating that the 53-year-old had been transferred from Ketziot prison to Ramon prison, part of the Ganot prison complex, where he had been put in solitary confinement. PHRI said it had not been told the reasons for the transfer. During a visit by a PHRI lawyer last month, Abu Safiya described harsh detention conditions, untreated medical problems and severe food shortages. Abu Safiya working at the hospital Photograph: supplied His son Elyas Abu Safiya, who is also a doctor, said his father required surgery to remove shrapnel that had become lodged in his left thigh when he was detained, and that he continued to suffer persistent pain and swelling at the site of the wound. “What we know [about his time in detention] shows severe suffering,” Elyas said. “During the first months of his detention, he was not allowed to change his clothes, and he developed skin diseases without receiving proper treatment. …