UN inquiry urges release of Palestinian doctor jailed by Israel 

A United Nations inquiry commission has called for Israel to immediately release a Palestinian doctor it has jailed without charge for more than 18 months.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry ⁠on the Occupied Palestinian Territory made the appeal on Wednesday for Hussam Abu Safia, the 52-year-old director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, saying there are credible reports he has faced “continued and severe abuse”.

Abu Safia’s lawyer Nasser Odeh has warned that the doctor’s health is in ⁠⁠grave danger as he faces daily abuse. Rights groups and his family say he shows signs of having been regularly tortured.

During a recent visit, Abu Safia was found so severely wounded that Odeh struggled to recognise him, according to the rights group Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

Last month, footage of Abu Safia appearing via videolink before an Israeli court showed him looking noticeably thinner in his face and around his abdomen.

“The Commission calls for the immediate, unconditional and safe release of Dr. Abu Safiya and of all medical personnel held in arbitrary detention by Israel,” the commission said in a statement, using a slightly different spelling of the doctor’s name. “It also urges the Israeli authorities to provide immediate independent medical care for Dr. Abu Safiya.”

Israeli authorities detained Abu Safia along with other medical staff and patients in December 2024. They classified him as an “unlawful combatant”, a designation Israel has used to hold Palestinians for prolonged periods without trial.

In the statement urging his release, the commission said Israeli authorities’ reported conduct towards Abu Safia reflects a broader pattern of violations that it identified in previous reports.

“The actions of the Israeli Prison Service guards towards Palestinian detainees raise grave concerns of violations of international law that ‌likely amount to international crimes. Dr. Abu Safiya’s medical condition is the direct result of these actions.”

The Reuters news agency quoted an Israel Prison Service (IPS) spokesperson as rejecting the inquiry commission’s claims as “false, outrageous, and entirely without factual basis”.

The spokesperson did not specifically mention Abu Safia, although the IPS has previously rejected allegations that he or other doctors have faced mistreatment in prison.

In September 2025, the commission said ⁠Israeli authorities had committed genocide by targeting the healthcare system ⁠and medical professionals in Gaza since October 2023.

On Monday, a separate UN rights body termed Abu Safia’s detention “arbitrary” and called for his immediate release. In its finding, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ‌said Israel’s ‌actions contravened multiple articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Abu Safia is one of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza currently held by Israel without charge.

Prior to his detention, he had been a prominent voice highlighting Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector and continued to work despite the death of one of his sons in an Israeli drone attack.