Israeli court rules to keep prominent Palestinian doctor in detention

Israel’s Supreme Court has again rejected an appeal by prominent Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia, who is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Law without any criminal charges being brought against him.

Following the ruling on Tuesday, Abu Safia remains in solitary confinement in Nafha Prison in harsh conditions and continues to be denied necessary medical care, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said, citing information from Abu Safiya’s lawyer Nasser Odeh.

The Palestinian doctor, who is the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, appealed for immediate release via video link last week after more than a year of imprisonment. Footage showed him looking noticeably thinner, and his family said he showed visible signs of torture.

Abu Safia has been held without charge for more than 500 days, according to PHRI. He was abducted by Israel in late 2024 and has been held in detention since. The doctor defied Israeli forced displacement orders to leave the Gaza hospital where he worked, and instead stayed to treat his patients.

The Palestinian Centre for Prisoners Advocacy condemned the decision “to approve the continuation of his detention under the so-called ‘Unlawful Combatants Law’ without presenting any charges against him or filing an indictment”.

“The Centre holds the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the life and safety of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, and calls for his immediate release, the provision of urgent medical care, and an end to the policy of arbitrary detention against medical and humanitarian personnel,” it said in a statement released on Tuesday.

It urged “international human rights institutions, foremost among them the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation, and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs, to urgently intervene and pressure the Israeli authorities to end his unlawful detention”.

Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at PHRI, said Abu Safia’s continued detention was “a profound moral and legal failure”.

“Rather than upholding the fundamental principles of the rule of law and due process, the court has endorsed the indefinite detention of a hospital director who remains in solitary confinement while suffering from medical conditions that are not receiving appropriate treatment,” he said in a statement.

Before his detention, Abu Safia became well known for video statements pleading to the world to halt Israel’s attacks on medical facilities. He led a funeral procession for his son Ibrahim, who was killed in an Israeli drone strike at the hospital gate.