NEW YORK: A United Nations Commission on Wednesday voiced concern over reports of abuse of prominent Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by the Israeli military in Gaza in December 2024 and remains in Israeli custody.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, called for the immediate release of Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The commission reiterated its previous findings that such acts constituted the war crimes of willful killing and torture, as well as the crime against humanity of extermination.
Rights groups and Abu Safiya’s lawyer have warned that his life is at imminent risk, noting that he continues to be held without charge, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, an Israeli human rights organisation.
“Dr Abu Safiya’s medical condition is the direct result of these actions,” the UN inquiry said in a statement.
During a Supreme Court hearing in Jerusalem in June, which Abu Safiya attended via video link, he appeared noticeably thinner, particularly in his face and around his abdomen.
The UN inquiry said the reported treatment of Abu Safiya reflected a broader pattern of violations it had documented in previous reports.
In September 2025, the inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities had committed genocide by targeting Gaza’s healthcare system and medical personnel since October 2023, an allegation Israel rejected as “scandalous.”
Israel has accused the commission of pursuing a political agenda against the country, arguing that it has exceeded its mandate, and has declined to cooperate with its investigations.
On Monday, a separate UN human rights body also described Abu Safiya’s detention as arbitrary and called for his immediate release.
