Lawyer says detained Gaza doctor was severely beaten in Israeli jail

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.

"He said clearly, 'I'm living in hell. The mind can't imagine what I go through every day. I think someone has decided to kill me'."

Odeh said he had not lost hope that he would see his client again.

"I hope to see him soon out of prison," he said. "His place is outside prison, his place is in the hospital."

But he struggled to repeat the words Abu Safiya said to him: "Thank you Nasser, but I think it will be the last time we will meet."

Abu Safiya was director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, treating patients and leading the hospital 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". At the time, the World Health Organization called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza.

Images circulated at the time showed Abu Safiya walking towards an Israeli armoured vehicle in his white doctor's coat through the rubble before being taken for interrogation.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement to the BBC that he was apprehended for suspected involvement in terrorist activities and for holding a rank in Hamas.

Abu Safiya held the rank of colonel in the health department of Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry, in an agency that provided medical treatment to security and police and their families.

However, medical staff and international aid groups that worked with Abu Safiya deny that he co-operated with or worked for Hamas.

He is being held under the Unlawful Combatants Law, which authorises the military to detain people from Gaza suspected of posing a security risk for an unspecified period without charge.

The Israel Prison Service has come under severe criticism before about its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, which it denies.

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.

In the same month, the Israel-based human rights group Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said at least 94 Palestinian prisoners and detainees had died in Israeli custody in less than two years.

The Israel Prison Service told the BBC that the allegations about Abu Safiya's treatment detailed by his lawyer were false and without factual basis.

It did not provide information such as detention status, place of detention or medical condition, it said, for privacy and security, but stated that all prisoners and detainees were held in accordance with the law and receive medical care based on ministry of health guidelines.

The IPS added that it rejected allegations of abuse, torture, starvation or denial of medical treatment.

There have been statements calling for action on Abu Safiya's case from human rights groups such as Amnesty International, whose spokesperson called it "truly horrifying". PHRI said he should be transferred immediately, given urgent medical treatment and visited by a judge.

PHRI also ​filed the petition to the Supreme Court in April calling for the release Abu Safiya and 13 other Palestinian doctors from Gaza being held in Israel without charge.

On Monday, 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".

The BBC has contacted the Israel Prison Service for comment about the working group's finding.