On October 13, 2025, under a long-awaited ceasefire deal in Gaza, Israel released dozens of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other medical personnel who had been seized during military raids on hospitals. The move, which formed part of a broader prisoner exchange involving 20 hostages held by Hamas, was hailed by many as a step toward easing tensions and restoring some hope to Gaza’s battered health system. Yet, for many families and colleagues, the celebrations were bittersweet. More than 100 medical workers, including the prominent pediatrician and hospital director Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, remain behind bars in Israeli prisons, their fate uncertain.
According to the Associated Press, Dr. Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been imprisoned without charge for nearly 10 months. Despite widespread calls for his release, he was not among the hundreds of Palestinian detainees freed on Monday. Health Workers Watch, a group documenting detentions from Gaza, reported that 55 medical workers—including 31 doctors and nurses—were on lists of detainees set for release, though it could not immediately confirm if all were actually freed. The same group noted that at least 115 medical workers remain in custody, including the remains of four who died while in Israeli prisons, where rights organizations and witnesses have reported frequent abuse.
For those who did return home, the reunion was both joyous and poignant. Staff from al-Awda Hospital in Gaza carried their released director, Ahmed Muhanna, on their shoulders in celebration. Muhanna had been held by Israel for about 22 months after being seized in a raid on the facility in late 2023. "Al-Awda Hospital will be restored, its staff will rebuild it with their own hands. ... I am proud of what we have done and will do," Muhanna told well-wishers, his face noticeably gaunter than before his detention, as captured in videos posted on social media.
Al-Awda Hospital, located in the devastated Jabaliya refugee camp, has been shut down since May 2025. The closure followed multiple Israeli offensives and a forced evacuation during the most recent military operation. The hospital's fate is emblematic of the broader collapse of Gaza’s health infrastructure. Israel’s two-year campaign to destroy Hamas after the group’s October 7, 2023 attack has decimated Gaza’s health system, forcing most hospitals to close and leaving many others heavily damaged. Throughout the conflict, Israeli forces raided several hospitals and detained hundreds of staff. Israel has consistently claimed that Hamas used hospitals for military purposes—a charge that Palestinian health officials firmly deny.
Dr. Abu Safiya’s story has become a rallying point for many in Gaza and beyond. At 52, he is known not just as a skilled pediatrician, but as a symbol of resilience. He led Kamal Adwan Hospital through an 85-day siege during an Israeli offensive that swept through the surrounding districts of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun. His videos, posted regularly on social media, showed staff struggling to treat waves of wounded Palestinians even as supplies dwindled and the hospital itself came under attack. According to AP, he repeatedly refused military calls to shut down the hospital, pleading for international assistance as strikes caused injuries and deaths among patients and staff and damaged critical wards.
The personal cost of his commitment was staggering. In October 2024, a drone strike killed his son Ibrahim at the hospital entrance. "I refused to leave the hospital and sacrifice my patients, so the army punished me by killing my son," he said in a video afterward, breaking down in tears. The following month, shrapnel from another drone blast wounded Abu Safiya as he sat in his office. Despite his injuries, he continued to work among the patients. "Even with his wound, he was circulating among the patients. … He was sleeping, eating, drinking among the patients," recalled Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutrition technical adviser for the U.S. medical aid group MedGlobal.
Abu Safiya’s leadership began in late 2023, after his predecessor, Dr. Ahmed Kahlout, was seized in an Israeli raid. Kahlout remains detained, accused by Israel of being a member of Hamas, though no charges are known to have been filed. Under Abu Safiya’s direction, Kamal Adwan Hospital’s intensive care unit and pediatric ward were revived, and a malnutrition unit was established that has since treated hundreds of children. "He is an amazing doctor," said Dr. Soboh. "He built things out of nothing." His dedication earned him deep respect among colleagues and made him a symbol for Gaza’s embattled medical community.
The events of December 27, 2023, marked a turning point. Israeli troops surrounded Kamal Adwan Hospital, and images captured Abu Safiya in his white lab coat walking out through rubble-strewn streets to speak with Israeli officers about evacuating patients. According to his son Elias, after returning from the discussion, Abu Safiya asked staff to gather everyone—patients, staff, and family members—in the courtyard. Some were evacuated to other hospitals, while others, including Abu Safiya himself, were detained. Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal, reported that troops wrecked the hospital’s radiology department and operating rooms and destroyed ventilators. The Israeli military stated it launched the raid after warning staff multiple times about alleged Hamas fighters operating from the hospital.
Since his detention, Abu Safiya’s family has struggled with uncertainty. His family said on social media there were "no confirmed details about the date of his release," but freed detainees described him as "in good health and strong spirits." Days after his detention, his 74-year-old mother died. "She hadn’t stopped crying since they detained him," said his son Elias.
Abu Safiya is currently held at Israel’s Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, which visited him in September, reported that he had not been brought before a judge or interrogated and had no information about why he was detained. The group also noted that Abu Safiya said he and other detainees received insufficient food and medical care, and that he had lost about 25 kilograms (55 pounds) since his detention. He reported that guards regularly beat prisoners during cell searches. Islam Mohammed, a freelance journalist detained with Abu Safiya, described the treatment as "inhuman from the time of detention, until release," adding, "To call it a beating does not describe it." Mohammed said that for a period, he was held at Sde Teiman Prison at the same time as Abu Safiya, though in a different cell, and that detainees were often beaten and insulted by guards.
Israeli officials maintain that they follow legal standards for the treatment of prisoners and investigate any violations by prison personnel. The Israeli military said Abu Safiya is being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas, but staff and international aid groups who worked with him deny the claims. Notably, in November 2023, Israeli forces seized Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, declaring him a Hamas officer—only to release him seven months later.
As Gaza’s health system continues to reel from the devastation of war, the fate of doctors like Abu Safiya remains a painful reminder of the human cost of the conflict. For now, his story stands as both a testament to the endurance of Gaza’s medical workers and a call for accountability and transparency in the treatment of detainees.