Khaberni - The Israeli Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request to release Palestinian doctor Hossam Abu Safiya, who has been detained without charge since his arrest in Gaza in late 2024.
Abu Safiya is the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital and is among at least 14 doctors from Gaza detained in Israel without charge for over a year.
Naji Abbas, the head of the Detainees and Prisoners Affairs department in the Physicians for Human Rights organization in Israel, stated that the court's decision was based on "confidential materials" that were not made available to Abu Safiya or his lawyer.
Abbas said in a statement, "The message that this decision sends is clear and unequivocal, that a doctor can be deprived of his freedom indefinitely without being charged and without the authorities having to present evidence against him in an open session."
The lawyer of Abu Safiya and human rights organizations say the doctor is deprived of adequate food and has been subjected to assaults in prison.
Abu Safiya appeared via a video call at a session before the Supreme Court in Jerusalem last Wednesday and looked noticeably underweight.
The Physicians for Human Rights organization in Israel said that Abu Safiya has been held in solitary confinement for the past 13 days.
The Israeli occupation army claims that Abu Safiya belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), without providing evidence, and both the Gaza Health Ministry and Hamas have denied these allegations.
Abu Safiya was among the doctors who refused to leave dozens of newborns they were treating after being ordered by the occupation army to evacuate in 2023.
