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Where Is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya? Calls Grow for Israel to Release Imprisoned Gaza Healthcare Workers
Pressure is mounting for Israel to release many more detainees as part of the U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire deal, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been held under harsh conditions without charge since December, when Israeli troops stormed the hospital — claiming without evidence it was a Hamas command center. Soldiers forced Dr. Abu Safiya out at gunpoint along with patients he had refused to abandon. Famous footage shows him wearing his white medical coat as he climbed over rubble to walk toward an Israeli tank before he was detained.
Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, says that Abu Safiya is one of at least 19 doctors held in Israeli detention without charge. "They are facing a very serious risk for their health and for their lives," says Abbas. "They are being tortured. They are facing violence daily."