‘They keep beating me’: Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya gives new testimony from 'Israeli' prison
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- Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya reports continued physical abuse, sleep deprivation and threats inside ‘Israeli’ detention.
- Rights groups are demanding an independent medical examination as the ‘Israeli’ Supreme Court considers the release of 14 Palestinian doctors detained without trial.
Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, has revealed in a new testimony that he continues to face physical abuse inside ‘Israeli’ prisons.
According to a statement by Physicians for Human Rights-'Israel', Abu Safiya’s lawyer conveyed his testimony, in which he said prison guards continue to deliberately beat him in sensitive areas of his body.
He also said he is being deliberately deprived of sleep through persistent noise and loudspeakers, while receiving threats aimed at preventing him from disclosing details about the conditions of his detention.
The group said Abu Safiya, who has been detained since December 27, 2024, without an indictment following the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, was transferred on August 10 from the underground Rakevet prison to the medical center at Ramle Prison for one week after developing health problems.
The group said it is demanding that Abu Safiya undergo an immediate examination by internal medicine specialist Amit Tirosh.
It said the practices against him constitute a continuation of a pattern of deliberate abuse, citing documentation of an injury to his left eye and signs of blows to his head and chest.
Meanwhile, the ‘Israeli’ Supreme Court has given the authorities until September 13 to clarify their position on a request to release 14 Palestinian doctors from the Gaza Strip who are being held without trial.
The court also asked whether the chief of staff had reviewed their case in light of their status as medical personnel.
More than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners are reportedly being held in ‘Israeli’ prisons, where rights groups have documented allegations of torture and medical neglect.
The developments come amid the ongoing war on Gaza, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured more than 174,000, according to the figures cited in the report.
