Supreme Court rejects appeal of Gaza hospital chief, a Hamas officer, detained by Israel

The Supreme Court rejects the appeal of Gaza hospital chief Hussam Abu Safiya, a Hamas officer, 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.

The text of the decision and its reasoning has yet to be released.

Abu Safiya, who runs Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested by Israeli forces during the war in Gaza in December 2024 and is one of the most prominent Gazan detainees. He is being held in solitary confinement and rights groups have called for his release.

He holds the rank of colonel in the Hamas Military Medical Services, according to the service itself and Palestinian media reports. A photograph from 2016 showing him wearing a Hamas uniform and sitting next to senior members of the terror group emerged after his arrest.

“The rejection of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s appeal and his continued detention without charge represent a profound moral and legal failure,” says Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, following the rejection of the appeal.

“Rather than upholding the fundamental principles of the rule of law and due process, the court has endorsed the indefinite detention of a hospital director who remains in solitary confinement while suffering from medical conditions that are not receiving appropriate treatment.”

During a visit by lawyers from Physicians for Human Rights Israel on June 4, the lawyers learned that he had been placed in solitary confinement. The Israel Prison Service has declined to say why he was moved to solitary confinement.

Abu Safiya’s lawyer says he is being held in Nafha Prison “under harsh detention conditions” and claims he is being denied “necessary medical care despite his deteriorating health.”

Israel currently holds over 1,300 Palestinian detainees under the terms of the law for unlawful combatants, in a practice known as administrative detention. Such detainees include those arrested by the IDF and security services inside Gaza during military operations but who have not been charged with a crime.