Who is Hussam Abu Safia, director of an important Gaza hospital arrested by Israel? | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

The head of one of the hospitals in northern Gaza, which has been partially functioning, was arrested as Israeli soldiers stormed the facility and forced dozens of doctors and patients.

Concerns are growing for the safety of the director of one of the few hospitals in northern Gaza after Israeli forces arrested him.

Hussam Abu Safia, 51, was arrested by Israeli soldiers during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday. It is not known where he was taken.

The World Health Organization said it had lost contact with Abu Safia after the attack, which also saw Israeli forces evacuate scores of medical workers and patients.

The director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Munir al-Barsh, said that Abu Safia was severely beaten with clubs and batons by Israeli soldiers, who forced him to strip and wear clothes intended for prisoners.

It was the second time in as many months that Abu Safia was arrested by Israeli forces while killing people in Gaza.

Here’s what you need to know about him:

Abu Safia, a pediatrician by training, is a prominent figure in Gaza’s health system. He has a master’s degree and a Palestinian board certificate in pediatrics and neonatology.

Also known by his nickname Abu Elias, Abu Safia was born on November 21, 1973, in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. His family was displaced in 1948 from the Palestinian town of Hamama in the Ashkelon region.

Abu Safia refused multiple Israeli orders to leave the Kamal Adwan Hospital after Israeli forces heavily blockaded the northern Gaza Strip on October 5. bombing, killing hundreds of people.

This siege has had a very negative impact on the hospitals in the region. Abu Safia was briefly detained and then released when Israeli forces raided the facility in late October and arrested 44 of its employees, leaving him and a handful of medical workers to tend to dozens of wounded.

At the same time, Israeli forces killed Abu Safia’s son Ibrahim in a drone strike at the hospital gate. A doctor was leading his son’s funeral prayer in the hospital yard as he accused the Israeli army of killing his son to punish him for refusing to leave the hospital.

Despite the siege, the medical team, which included a few doctors like Abu Safia and a small group of nurses, stayed at the hospital, refusing repeated orders from the Israeli army to leave.

By staying in the hospital, Abu Safia kept the world informed of the daily attacks on Israel, issuing video statements and calling for international intervention to end the attacks.

He was wounded by explosives during an Israeli missile attack on the hospital on November 23 when he was leaving the operating room. He received six stab wounds to his thigh, which caused punctures in his veins and arteries. But he begged to continue his work.

“This will not stop us,” he said. “I was injured at work, that’s an honor. My blood is no more precious than that of our colleagues or the people we serve. I will return to my patients as soon as I recover.”