State admits detained Gaza hospital chief and Hamas officer examined several times by medical officials in last month

The state admits that Gaza hospital chief and Hamas officer Hussam Abu Safiya has been examined by medical officials “several times” since he was admitted to Nitzan prison in Ramle, after Abu Safiya’s lawyer alleged on Sunday that his medical condition had become life-threatening.

The disclosure comes as part of the state’s response to petitions by the Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) group to the High Court of Justice seeking the release of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza who are being held in Israel without charge.

The state lawyers, representing the IDF chief of staff, say that Abu Safiya is under “continuous medical monitoring” and that “at no stage” has his life been in danger.

The state did not explain why the several medical examinations were necessary. It asked the court to dismiss the petitions.

Abu Safiya’s lawyer Nasser Odeh visited his client on Thursday and stated in an affidavit to the court that Abu Safiya “bore fresh, severe injuries to his head, around his eyes, and on his ears and neck — to the extent that his lawyer initially struggled to recognize him,” according to Physicians for Human Rights.

The state, in its response to the High Court, did not address Odeh’s allegations of physical injuries to Abu Safiya, who has been held in Nitzan prison’s underground Rakefet detention facility since June 24.

“An independent medical examination and an independent judicial review of Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition are urgently required,” says PHRI, and calls on the High Court to schedule an urgent hearing on the petition concerning the continued detention of the 14 doctors.

Abu Safiya was arrested by Israeli forces during the war in Gaza in December 2024. He holds the rank of colonel in the Hamas Military Medical Services, according to the service itself and Palestinian media reports.

Last month, the Supreme Court rejected Abu Safiya’s appeal against his ongoing detention, ruling that he can continue to be held under Israel’s law for unlawful combatants despite criminal charges not having been brought against him.