Gaza hospital chief Dr Abu Safiya loses 40kg in Israeli detention, beaten by jailers

A top Gaza doctor abducted by Israeli forces is in a critical condition after months in detention, his lawyer said on Monday.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, has lost 40kg in weight, having previously weighed 100kg, lawyer Ghaid Ghanem Qassem said in a post on Facebook. Dr Abu Safiya is also suffering from high blood pressure and weak heart muscles.

The Palestinian doctor was taken by Israeli forces in December last year, amid the Israeli military's campaign of mass arrests of Palestinians in Gaza, including of health workers.

His abduction forced the hospital to go out of service, further plunging the health crisis in the war-battered enclave.

The doctor was recently severely beaten on his rib cage, face, head, and neck, with the beatings lasting about 30 minutes, Qassem said. The beating reportedly took place on 24 June in his prison cell at the notorious Ofer jail. Israeli prison authorities have also refused to provide him with medication or refer him to a specialist doctor for examination for his heart condition.

Qassem also said the Palestinian doctor suffers from an irregular heartbeat and continues to wear winter clothes as he is being held in an underground cell, where the sun does not enter.

He is being held in in Ofer while enduring "starvation, torture, solitary confinement and total deprivation," the lawyer added.

Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Med human rights monitor, said he last visited Dr Abu Safiya on 9 July, and provided harrowing accounts of his condition.

He added that his glasses, delivered to him by his lawyer, have been deliberately broken.

Medical organisations around the world and the Abu Safiya family have pleaded for intervention and for his release.

In a separate development on Sunday, top Gaza surgeon Dr Ahmad Qandeel was killed by an Israeli airstrike.

Dr Qandeel was a renowned general and vascular surgeon, who, despite retiring 14 years ago, lent his medical services to Gaza’s collapsing healthcare system amid the war.

The Ministry of Health said at least 360 medical personnel have been arrested since the beginning of the military onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has used attacks on healthcare workers as a deliberate tactic amid its military onslaught of Gaza, as well as in Lebanon and on international humanitarian workers.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said that at least 1,4000 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza as of May this year.