Above photo: AA/Getty Images.
The Palestinian doctor was among several prisoners attacked days earlier with batons, police dogs, and electric shocks during a raid at Nitzan Prison.
The head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, Doctor Hussam Abu Safia, is experiencing a major deterioration in his health due to severe torture and beatings inflicted by Israeli jailers, the Palestinian Prisoners Information Office informed on 5 August.
Imprisoned Gaza pediatrician Hussam Abu Safia suffers severe health decline, Palestinian Prisoners’ Office says
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The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office says detained Gaza physician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital Dr. Hussam Abu Safia is facing severe health deterioration… pic.twitter.com/nKp7610GKn— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) August 5, 2026
The Palestinian doctor is currently being held in Israel’s underground Rakevet torture center, located within Nitzan Prison.
Abu Safia was targeted during a brutal raid by Israeli officers at the facility on 27 July.
According to the statement, Palestinian prisoners were beaten with batons, shocked with electricity, exposed to tear gas, and shot with rubber bullets.
It added that the jailers also unleashed police dogs on the detainees in that raid. The office said it was “the hardest day of his life in prison” since he was abducted from Gaza in late 2024.
A Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy group said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, suffered rib fractures and bruises after severe beatings during his detention in an Israeli prison.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office described July 27 as “the most… pic.twitter.com/Uh4eIXzs3C
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 6, 2026
Abu Safia already had significant health issues before his abduction.
He suffers from heart disease and high blood pressure and has been subjected to deliberate medical negligence during his time in Israeli custody.
He also has a herniated disc, severe neck pain, vision problems, persistent dizziness, and a rapid heartbeat.
The statement highlights that the imprisoned pediatrician was severely assaulted right after being transferred to Rakevet.
Prison authorities placed him in solitary confinement for 21 days upon his transfer and subjected him to extremely harsh conditions.
Just weeks ago, Abu Safia’s lawyer said the doctor faces an immediate risk of death in prison.
“Alarming new information conveyed by … Abu Safia’s lawyer, in cooperation with Physicians for Human Rights, conclusively demonstrates that Israeli occupation authorities are intensifying direct targeting of Dr Abu Safia by subjecting him to systematic torture and harsh detention conditions,” the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC) said at the time.
The Israeli measures were aimed at “physically and psychologically exhausting him” and mark a clear attempt by Tel Aviv to “eliminate him inside Israeli prisons,” the PPC said, calling it a “slow killing.”
Abu Safia was previously held at the Sde Teiman facility, the notorious Israeli prison where a Palestinian detainee was raped by soldiers in July 2024. Although the incident was captured on video, the soldiers responsible were only briefly detained and recently had all charges against them dropped.
Despite the well-documented mistreatment, Israel’s High Court recently rejected an appeal for his release.
In May, former Palestinian prisoners came forward with disturbing testimonies and firsthand accounts of the torture Abu Safia endured.
“The prison cells echoed with the doctor’s screams under severe beatings,” one said.
The embattled physician, who has spent close to two years in Israeli custody, conveyed a harrowing message to his attorney during their last meeting.
“This is the last time you will see me … They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end.”
Tel Aviv has made unfounded claims that the doctor, who is being held without charge under so-called administrative detention, was a member of Hamas.
His detention was extended by six months in late 2025 under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law.
Abu Safia was among many doctors in the besieged Gaza Strip who refused to halt their medical work after the Israeli military ordered them to flee.
He was abducted in December 2024 during an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of many throughout the war.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, people were executed during the raid, including medical staff and displaced civilians who had been sheltering in the hospital.
By July 2025, Abu Safia had lost about 40 kilograms since being taken to an Israeli prison, according to his lawyer.
