Israel's Supreme Court has once again rejected an appeal by prominent Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia, who is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Law without any criminal charges.

Following Tuesday's ruling, Abu Safia remains in solitary confinement at Nafha Prison in harsh conditions and continues to be denied necessary medical care, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), citing his lawyer Nasser Odeh.

The Palestinian doctor, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, appealed for immediate release via video link last week after more than a year of imprisonment. Footage showed him noticeably thinner, and his family reported visible signs of torture.

Abu Safia has been held without charge for over 500 days, according to PHRI. He was abducted by Israel in late 2024 and has been in detention since. The doctor defied Israeli forced displacement orders to leave the Gaza hospital where he worked, staying to treat his patients.

The Palestinian Centre for Prisoners Advocacy condemned the decision "to approve the continuation of his detention under the so-called 'Unlawful Combatants Law' without presenting any charges against him or filing an indictment." It urged "international human rights institutions, foremost among them the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation, and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs, to urgently intervene and pressure the Israeli regime to end his unlawful detention."

Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at PHRI, said Abu Safia's continued detention was "a profound moral and legal failure." "Rather than upholding the fundamental principles of the rule of law and due process, the court has endorsed the indefinite detention of a hospital director who remains in solitary confinement while suffering from medical conditions that are not receiving appropriate treatment," he stated.

Source: www.aljazeera.com