Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been held in an Israeli prison for over 555 days without being charged with a crime. On July 5, 2026, a human rights organization said he is now in immediate danger of dying.

The warning came after his lawyer visited him on July 2. The lawyer found Abu Safia shackled at his hands and feet, unable to breathe or speak. He had fresh bruises and injuries on his head, face, eyes, ears, and neck. According to Al Jazeera, the organization Physicians for Human Rights Israel said this account was among the worst cases they had documented since the war began.

Abu Safia was arrested at his hospital on December 27, 2024, after staying at his post through repeated military operations in northern Gaza. Israeli authorities have not filed charges against him. Instead, they are holding him under a legal designation called "unlawful combatant" — a category under Israeli law that allows the state to keep someone in prison for a long time without a trial. His son also released a video on July 5 asking for his father's release.

What is an "unlawful combatant" detention?

To understand Abu Safia's situation, it helps to know how this legal category works. Normally, if you arrest someone, you either charge them with a crime (and give them a trial) or treat them as a prisoner of war under international law (which has its own protections). The "unlawful combatant" designation is different: it sits outside both systems.

Israel's law on this, passed in 2002, lets the government hold someone it calls an unlawful combatant without filing charges or proving anything in court. No defined end date. No trial. The Israeli government says this tool is necessary because of the nature of conflict with armed groups. Critics — including the United Nations and Israeli civil rights organizations — argue that using this against civilians, especially medical workers, breaks international humanitarian law.

The case so far

Multiple international bodies have examined Abu Safia's case. In March 2026, a group of UN human rights experts called for his immediate release and medical care. In June, Amnesty International reported he had been moved to solitary confinement. On June 16, 2026, an Israeli court ordered that he remain in detention. Al Jazeera covered that ruling at the time.

None of these actions has changed his legal status. He remains imprisoned without charges.

Abu Safia is not alone. As of July 2026, fourteen Palestinian doctors from Gaza are held by Israel without being charged, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel. The broader group of Palestinians held without trial — under either administrative detention or the unlawful combatant designation — has grown substantially since the Gaza war began. International human rights organizations worry that this goes against the Geneva Conventions, which are supposed to protect medical workers and civilians during conflict.

The personal backdrop

Two months before his arrest, Abu Safia's son Ibrahim was killed by an Israeli drone strike at the hospital entrance. During earlier military operations, Abu Safia had described conditions at the hospital as they happened. Reuters documented his account of a May 2024 missile strike near the building, where he described successive strikes hitting the facility and its surroundings.

The central tension

What the July 2 lawyer visit makes clear is this: whether or not Abu Safia's legal detention is justified under Israeli law, he now appears to need emergency medical care. Physicians for Human Rights Israel does not use language like "immediate danger" routinely — this is an organization that has monitored detention conditions throughout the war. Yet the court order from June 16 says he stays in prison without charges.

That gap — between a life-threatening medical crisis and a legal order to continue holding someone without trial — sits at the heart of this case. It also reflects a larger question about how Palestinian detainees are treated that no court decision so far has resolved.