Isreali Government Pressured To Reveal Location Of Hospital Director

A human rights group has filed a petition with Israel’s top court demanding to know the whereabouts of a prominent Palestinian hospital director detained by the Israeli military.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has not been seen publicly since he was arrested during an Israeli raid last week that closed Kamal Adwan Hospital – the last major functioning health facility in northern Gaza.

Recently released former detainees told CNN on Monday that Dr. Abu Safiya is being held along with other medics from the hospital at Sde Teiman – a notorious military base in Israel’s Negev desert that doubles as a detention facility.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) said in a statement Thursday that it filed the petition with the High Court after receiving a response to an inquiry from the Israeli military claiming that it had “found no indication of the arrest or detention of the individual in question.”

The IDF has since told CNN that Dr. Abu Safiya “was apprehended for suspected involvement in terrorist activities, and for holding a rank in the Hamas terror organization, while hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were hiding inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital under his management. He is currently being investigated by Israeli security forces.”

Before the raid on December 27, the Israeli military had fired on Kamal Adwan Hospital on a daily basis, and raided the facility at least six times since October 5, Dr Abu Safiya told CNN.

In another development, the Israeli military on Friday ordered patients and staff members inside northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital to evacuate, despite the fact that many patients cannot walk, a nurse at the hospital told CNN.

The Indonesian Hospital, which is “out of function” according to the World Health Organization, opened its doors to 23 people including patients and staff who were forced out of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The nurse, Rawiya Hussein Tamboora, told CNN, the group were being forced out of hospital again, including elderly patients and people with broken legs.

“The Israeli military is around us burning homes and houses… all day there is gunfire hitting the windows and walls,” the nurse.

On Thursday, UN experts said they were “gravely concerned” about the fate of Dr. Abu Safiya, and called on Israeli authorities, as the occupying power in Gaza, to “respect and protect the right to life.”

An Arab Knesset member has sent a letter to Israel’s Minister of Defense Israel Katz, calling on authorities to disclose Dr. Abu Safiya’s whereabouts and asking on what charges he is being held.

CNN/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma