Hussam Abu Safiya Archives - CrossFireArarbia

Israel Gets Ready to Ransack Al Awda Hospital in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
January 3, 2025

The Israeli army on Friday threatened the Al-Awda Hospital management, its medical staff and patients inside to immediately leave the hospital, “otherwise, it will be struck with everyone inside.”

The Israeli army has already attacked the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital putting them out of service, while the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza is still struggling to offer services.

According to a statement by the Al-Awda Hospital management, the Israeli army ordered the medical staff and patients to immediately leave.

These words were written on a white board at Al Awda Hospital on October 20th, 2023 by Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila. He was killed in an occupation airstrike on November 21st, 2023. Today, Al Awda Hospital is under attack. pic.twitter.com/Y4y9SzSuxB
— WearThePeace (@WearThePeaceCo) January 3, 2025

Earlier, the Palestinian Information Centre said the Israeli forces stormed the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, threatened its staff and patients, and ordered its immediate evacuation.

The doctor in charge of the hospital stated that the facility had run out of all medical supplies, calling for urgent international action to save the lives of wounded civilians according to Anadolu.

Last Friday, Israeli forces also stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, set it on fire, rendered it out of service, and detained over 350 people inside, including its director Hussam Abu Safiya.

Since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli military has been targeting Gaza’s health sector, bombing and besieging hospitals, issuing evacuation orders, and preventing the entry of medical supplies, especially in northern Gaza, which was re-invaded on Oct. 5.

The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on the enclave that has killed over 45,650 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Features

Please World Don’t Let Israel Kill Dr Abu Safiya

CrossFireArabia
January 3, 2025

The Israeli government bears full responsibility for the life of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, amid alarming indications of torture and ill-treatment since his detention in late December.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has received information that Dr. Abu Safiya’s health has deteriorated due to the torture he endured during his detention, particularly while being held at the Sde Teyman military base in southern Israel. Euro-Med Monitor warns of the grave risk to his life, following patterns of deliberate killings and deaths under torture previously suffered by other doctors and medical staff arrested from Gaza since October 2023.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented testimonies confirming that Israeli soldiers physically assaulted Dr. Abu Safiya immediately after he left the hospital on Friday, 27 December 2024. He was then directly targeted with sound bombs while attempting to evacuate the hospital in compliance with orders from the Israeli army.

According to testimonies gathered by Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli army subsequently transferred Dr. Abu Safiya to a field interrogation site in the Al-Fakhura area of Jabalia Refugee Camp. There, he was forced to strip off his clothes and was subjected to severe beatings, including being whipped with a thick wire commonly used for street electrical wiring. Soldiers deliberately humiliated him in front of other detainees, including fellow medical staff. He was later taken to an undisclosed location before being transferred to the Sde Teyman military camp under Israeli army control.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has also received information from recently released detainees at the Sde Teyman military camp, confirming that Dr. Abu Safiya was subjected to severe torture, leading to a significant deterioration in his health. This occurred despite him already being injured by Israeli air strikes on the hospital, where he worked tirelessly until the facility was stormed and set ablaze by Israeli forces.

The Israeli army has attempted to mislead the public regarding Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention and torture. Pro-Israeli media outlets circulated a misleading promotional video portraying his treatment as humane, even though he was tortured and humiliated immediately after filming.

Euro-Med Monitor warns of the severe implications of Israel’s denial of Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention, describing this as a deeply troubling indicator of his fate and detention conditions. This denial also reflects a blatant disregard for binding legal standards.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) submitted a request on behalf of Dr. Abu Safiya’s family to obtain information and facilitate a lawyer’s visit on 2 January 2024. However, the Israeli authorities claimed to have no record of his detention, stating they had no indication of his arrest.

Euro-Med Monitor expresses deep concern that Dr. Abu Safiya may face execution during his detention, similar to the fate of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, head of the orthopaedics department at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, who was killed under torture at Ofer Detention Centre on 19 April 2024. Dr. Al-Bursh had been detained along with colleagues from Al-Awda Hospital in December 2023.

Likewise, Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, head of the obstetrics department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, was killed due to torture at an Israeli Shin Bet interrogation centre in Ashkelon, one week after his detention in November 2023. Israeli authorities concealed his death for more than seven months.

Dozens of doctors and medical staff remain subjected to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in Israeli prisons and detention centres, where they face severe torture and solitary confinement, according to testimonies from former detainees.

The detention of Dr. Abu Safiya must be understood within the context of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has persisted for nearly 15 months. His arrest, torture, and potential execution form part of a broader strategy aimed at destroying the Palestinian people in Gaza—both physically and psychologically—and breaking their will.

This strategy includes not only the deliberate destruction of the health sector and the disruption of medical staff operations, particularly in northern Gaza, but also an attack on the symbolic and humanitarian role represented by Dr. Abu Safiya. Despite the grave crimes committed against Kamal Adwan Hospital, its staff, and patients, especially in the past two months, Dr. Abu Safiya remained unwavering in his dedication to providing essential medical care and fulfilling his medical duties.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor calls on all concerned states, international entities, and UN bodies to take immediate and effective measures to secure the unconditional release of Dr. Abu Safiya. His fundamental rights to life, physical safety, and dignity must be protected, shielding him from torture or any cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

Euro-Med Monitor also urges international and local human rights organisations to be granted full access to visit Dr. Abu Safiya, monitor his health condition, provide necessary medical treatment, and ensure he is free from human rights violations until his release.

Furthermore, Euro-Med Monitor reiterates its call for the United Nations to deploy an international investigative mission to examine the grave crimes and violations faced by Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. It calls for the immediate release of those detained arbitrarily, for international and local organisations to be granted visitation rights, and for detainees to have access to legal representation.

Euro-Med Monitor expresses regret over the continued inaction of Ms. Alice Jill Edwards, the Special Rapporteur on Torture, who has failed to address these atrocities. It condemns her bias and deliberate negligence in fulfilling her mandate and calls for her dismissal. A new Special Rapporteur who is neutral and committed to universal human rights principles must be appointed.

Additionally, Euro-Med Monitor urges the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to conduct immediate and thorough investigations into crimes committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. It calls for direct engagement with victims and families, as well as for reports to be submitted to pave the way for investigative committees, fact-finding missions, and international courts to prosecute Israeli crimes, hold perpetrators accountable, and compensate victims in line with international law.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor renews its call for relevant states and entities to fulfil their legal obligations to halt the genocide in Gaza. This includes imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, holding it accountable for its crimes, and taking effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians. Immediate steps must also be taken to prevent forced displacement, ensure the return of residents, release arbitrarily detained Palestinians, and facilitate the urgent entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza without obstacles. Finally, Euro-Med Monitor demands the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the entire Gaza Strip.

EuroMed Human Rights Monitor

Analyses

Israel Attacks North Gaza Aimed at Force Displacement

CrossFireArabia
October 9, 2024

An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is imminent as the Israeli occupation tightens its siege on the Jabalia camp and Beit Lahia project in the northern Gaza Strip for the fourth consecutive day. Israel is accelerating the pace of its genocide against the Palestinians there by carrying out mass and planned killings, as well as widespread forced displacements. The international community, led by the United Nations, must act swiftly and decisively to save 10s of thousands of residents who are being subjected to one of the most violent campaigns of genocide the Strip has ever witnessed.

Israeli occupation forces have intensified their siege of the Jabalia camp and the surrounding neighborhoods, including Tal al-Zaatar, al-Sikka, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia. The Israeli forces have also taken up positions in the western region of the Gaza Strip, advancing as far as the Jaffa Cemetery and the Tawam Junction.

Israeli army committed massacres in North Gaza province: Palestinian Civil Defense
Humanitarian conditions in province deteriorate under siege#News #DailyNews #LiveNews #WorldNews #World pic.twitter.com/84Qpwxwbrl
— Breaking News (@FastNews77) October 9, 2024

With airstrikes, fire belts, and artillery shelling—including bombing homes over the heads of their occupants—the Israeli occupation forces have been occupying large portions of northern Gaza since Saturday evening, 5 October. Dozens of people have been killed and injured as a result of this ongoing invasion.

Initial reports confirmed that five citizens—including a woman, a man, and his son—were executed by the occupation forces for trying to escape the Jabalia camp while waving white flags.

In an extremely dangerous development, Israeli army forces ordered the complete evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital, located in the Beit Lahia project, north of Gaza. Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, reported that he received a call from the occupation forces telling him that if he did not get the patients and medical staff out of the hospital within a day, they would be put in danger.

Along with two other hospitals in northern Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, Kamal Adwan Hospital is partially operational after being raided and destroyed in the Israeli military’s first invasion of northern Gaza last December, during which the hospital’s medical staff, patients, and displaced persons were severely mistreated by the occupation forces. Kamal Adwan Hospital is currently being besieged by Israeli quadcopter aircraft for the second day in a row, with smoke bombs being detonated at its gate and dozens of raids on nearby buildings.

The sole road that ambulances used to move dozens of seriously injured patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital to the Baptist Hospital has been cut off, following an Israeli bombing of a building in the vicinity. This was followed by the occupation forces’ tightening of the siege on the hospital, and the blocking of ambulances and any other methods of victim transport.

Earlier today, the occupation forces arrested a paramedic who was transporting patients from the Kamal Awdan Hospital to the Baptist Hospital, despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities.

The Euro-Med Monitor field team received testimonies from citizens, who were able to reach Gaza City, about witnessing dead bodies lying in the streets. The citizens also stated that they saw victims trapped beneath the debris of bombed-out houses, and that ambulance and civil defense crews were unable to reach the area as at least 20 houses were targeted by Israeli forces in a four-day period.

Thousands of people trapped in the Jabalia and Beit Lahia camps are suffering from a near-total shortage of food supplies, which were already scarce due to Israel’s closure of the border crossings. The limited amount of goods and other aid that had previously been allowed to enter the area was blocked by Israel for more than a week prior to the new invasion.

Numerous families remain stuck in their homes, enduring harsh living conditions under the intensified and brutal Israeli bombing. Citizens are not even able to leave their homes in order to obtain water, and municipal crews and local committees are unable to assist them. As a result, thousands of residents face the threat of starvation, dehydration, or death, knowing full well that they are all victims of the catastrophic effects of malnutrition brought on by Israel’s year-long starvation policy.

The Israeli army is systematically working to empty northern Gaza of its residents and force them to move to the south, recently issuing several evacuation orders and dropping leaflets demanding their evacuation.

It is clear that the Israeli army’s latest operation has no military objective or necessity; rather, it is intended to finish the destructive operations that, during three prior incursions, have affected over 85% of the buildings in northern Gaza. Additionally, it is intended to target civilians and force them to flee the area, converting it into a full military zone.

Salah al-Din Road is now blocked from the Civil Administration side by an Israeli military checkpoint, and anyone attempting to use it to leave the camp is being searched. This afternoon, a paramedic was arrested despite prior coordination with the Red Cross, which belies Israel’s claims about the existence of “safe routes” for displaced people heading south.

The forcible deportation of a population is defined as a crime against humanity under the statute of the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations and the international community must intervene immediately to save 10s of thousands of Palestinian residents in northern Gaza who face ethnic cleansing by Israel. Furthermore, the UN and international community have a legal and moral obligation to put an end to the horrific crime of genocide being committed by the Israeli occupation for the second year in a row now.

EuroMed Human Rights Monitor