Gaza hospital chief lawfully detained, Israel says

Israel said Friday that Gaza hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya is lawfully detained and has shown no sign of a life-threatening condition, rejecting UN concerns over the paediatrician held since December 2024.

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said on X that Abu Safiya was detained on "concrete intelligence" and accused him of being a colonel in Hamas. It said his detention was subject to regular administrative review and judicial oversight, including by the Supreme Court last month.

Four independent UN rights experts said Tuesday that Abu Safiya's continued detention without charge or trial was arbitrary and reflected what they called Israel's systematic targeting of Palestinian health workers. The UN Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territories separately voiced grave concern at what it called credible reports of continued and severe abuse, and called for his immediate release and independent medical care.

Abu Safiya directed Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia. Israeli forces began an assault on the facility on December 27, 2024, calling it a Hamas "terrorist centre", and arrested dozens of medical staff, including Abu Safiya.

The Israeli mission said Abu Safiya had managed the hospital as one of Hamas's "terror hubs" and had diverted humanitarian resources to terrorist purposes. It said claims about his condition were unsupported and that he had been examined after arriving at Nitzan Detention Centre on June 24, 2026, and several times afterward.