️ The lawyer for a prominent Palestinian medic from Gaza who has been detained by Israeli authorities without charge for over 18 months has told the BBC he fears for his client's life. Nasser Odeh said that when he visited Dr Hussam Abu Safiya last Thursday at a notorious interrogation facility called Rakefet, his client was so badly beaten that he could not recognise him.

️ "He nearly lost consciousness several times," Odeh said of their meeting. "He told us that he was subjected to severe violence inside the prison, especially on the day of the visit." In a statement to the BBC, the Israel Prison Service rejected the account as false. Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond by Tuesday to a petition calling for the release of Abu Safiya and 13 other Palestinian doctors from Gaza held without charge in Israel.

️ According to Odeh, Abu Safiya said more than five prison guards assaulted him with their hands, batons and hammers after an appeal against his detention last month at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, and that he had not received any medical treatment. "I had difficulty recognising his features. Bruises covered his face, around his eyes, on his neck, and on his ears. Signs of beatings and torture were clearly visible on his face. He was exhausted and unable to breathe, in a difficult physical, psychological, and mental state."

️ Abu Safiya was director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, treating patients as the area was under "near total siege" by Israeli forces, according to the UN. He was detained in December 2024, when the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave the hospital, saying it was a "Hamas terrorist stronghold". A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said he was apprehended for suspected involvement in terrorist activities and for holding a rank in Hamas. However, medical staff and international aid groups that worked with Abu Safiya deny that he co-operated with or worked for Hamas.

️ The Israel Prison Service has come under severe criticism before about its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. In November 2025, the United Nations Committee against Torture said it was deeply concerned about reports indicating "a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill treatment" of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. The same month, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said at least 94 Palestinian prisoners and detainees had died in Israeli custody in less than two years.

️ Human rights groups including Amnesty International have called for action on Abu Safiya's case, with a spokesperson calling it "truly horrifying". The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion that calls Israel's detention of Abu Safiya arbitrary and urged his immediate release. The panel of independent experts also said that the case was one of several submitted to it that "may indicate a widespread or systematic practice of arbitrary detention in the country".

Source: www.bbc.co.uk