The Palestinian Ministry of Health called for the immediate release of the prisoner, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh, and all prisoners from the medical staff detained in the occupation prisons.

She renewed her appeal to all international health and humanitarian organizations and human rights institutions to urgently intervene for their immediate release.

The ministry stressed, in a statement issued on Wednesday, that Dr. Abu Safia and his fellow medical staff are being subjected to repressive and brutal practices inside the occupation prisons, according to the testimony of the lawyer of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, who was able to visit him yesterday evening, Tuesday, in Ofer prison.

The ministry added in its statement: “According to Dr. Abu Safiya’s statement to the center’s lawyer, he lost about 15 kilograms of his weight, and suffers from an enlarged heart muscle. He was not presented to a specialist doctor or provided with treatment, despite his repeated requests to the prison administration to do so.”

At the beginning of Dr. Abu Safiya’s arrest and during his transfer from the Gaza Strip, he was forced to take off his clothes, his hands were tied, and he sat on sharp stones for about 5 hours. He was subjected to electric shocks and chest beatings. He also stayed in the occupation’s cells for 25 days in Ofer Prison, 10 of which were during which he was subjected to almost continuous interrogation. He fainted in the cell due to a feeling of suffocation. He was also accused of charges that he immediately denied, stressing that he was a doctor who only provided treatment to patients and the wounded, in addition to holding the position of managing Kamal Adwan Hospital.

In its statement, the Ministry condemned the repeated attacks on medical personnel, which constitute a serious violation of the provisions of international law and the rules of protection stipulated for medical personnel and included in the Second Protocol attached to the Fourth Geneva Convention, calling on the international community to quickly intervene to release the Palestinian medical personnel immediately.

The Ministry of Health indicated that the occupation authorities had arrested Dr. Abu Safia on 12/27/2024, from Kamal Adoun Hospital in the North Gaza Governorate, along with many workers, doctors and citizens, as the prisoners suffer from extremely difficult detention conditions as a result of the occupation’s practices inside the prisons, and this is added to the series of daily violations by the occupation of all international and humanitarian laws, regulations and norms.