Lawyer says detained Gaza doctor was severely beaten in Israeli jail

A lawyer for a prominent Palestinian doctor from Gaza says he fears for his client's life after visiting him in Israeli custody last week. Nasser Odeh said Dr Hussam Abu Safiya was so badly beaten at the Rakefet interrogation facility that he could barely recognise him. The Israel Prison Service rejected the allegation as false.

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Odeh said he met Abu Safiya last Thursday and was told the doctor had been assaulted by more than five prison guards with hands, batons and hammers after an appeal against his detention at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem last month. He said Abu Safiya had bruises on his face, around his eyes, on his neck and ears, and had not received medical treatment. According to the lawyer, the doctor said he had nearly lost consciousness several times and described his condition as physically, psychologically and mentally severe.

The case comes as Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond by Tuesday to a petition seeking the release of Abu Safiya and 13 other Palestinian doctors from Gaza who are being held without charge. Abu Safiya has been detained for more than 18 months. His lawyer said he had been director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza before his detention in December 2024, when the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave the facility.

The allegations add to scrutiny of how Palestinian detainees from Gaza are being held during the war. Abu Safiya's detention has already become part of a wider legal and humanitarian dispute over the treatment of medical staff, the use of detention without charge, and access to care in custody. The involvement of the Supreme Court also gives the case a formal legal timetable, with a response due within days.