Layan Bsharat
08 June 2026•Update: 08 June 2026
A Palestinian lawyer on Sunday said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, is being held in Israeli solitary confinement in “harsh conditions.”
Dr. Abu Safiya "suffers from various chronic diseases and needs to obtain medicines and medical treatment on a regular basis, which he has been deprived of recently,” Nasser Odeh told Anadolu.
He said he visited the Palestinian doctor on May 26, pointing out he was transferred on June 3 to solitary confinement in Nafha Prison in southern Israel.
"Abu Safiya is not receiving the essential medications he needs, and we don’t have any communication or updates regarding his condition."
Abu Safiya was detained in late 2024 during a military raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza amid Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave.
Abu Safiya was "handcuffed and shackled" during a recent visit, the lawyer said.
He said the visit was conducted inside a “room monitored by cameras.”
“We talked through phone from behind a glass barrier, with guards standing alongside both Abu Safiya and me,” he said.
The visit was "very short, making it difficult for the detainee to discuss his personal matters due to fear of reprisal or punishment from the guards present during the visit."
Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 173,000, most of them women and children, in a two-year genocidal war in Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
Despite a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, the Israeli army has killed at least 961 Palestinians and injured over 3,000 others in near-daily attacks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
*Writing by Rasa Evrensel in Istanbul
