The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) demanded on July 20, 2026, that Israel immediately release all Palestinian healthcare workers held without clear legal justification, citing dire detention conditions and the solitary confinement of Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. MSF said it was "outraged by the treatment of healthcare workers, most of whom are being detained in dire conditions, without justification or cause" (MSF).

Israel is holding Dr. Abu Safia without trial under a classification of "unlawful combatant" — a legal designation that allows the state to bypass standard criminal proceedings, meaning no charges need to be filed and no trial date set. His lawyer, Nasser Odeh, warned that the doctor's health was in danger and that he showed signs of regular torture since being detained by Israeli forces more than a year and a half ago. Before his detention, Dr. Abu Safia had been a prominent voice drawing attention to the effects of Israel's war on Gaza's healthcare system. MSF stated that his treatment "follows an appalling pattern of the Israeli authorities detaining and targeting medical staff across Palestine."

MSF also called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Mohammed Obeid, who has been imprisoned for over 600 days after being arrested while working at Kamal Adwan Hospital. The organization demanded that all detained medical personnel be granted access to adequate medical care and dignified conditions while awaiting release.

Drawing on data from Healthcare Workers Watch, MSF reported that 95 Palestinian healthcare workers remain detained by Israeli authorities since October 2023. Healthcare Workers Watch reported in April 2026 that 446 Palestinian healthcare workers have been unlawfully detained by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023. Six Palestinian healthcare workers have reportedly been killed in Israeli detention, with their bodies still held by Israel. Physicians for Human Rights Israel, a civil society organization based in Israel, reports that more than 50 healthcare workers are currently being held in inhumane conditions, including 15 doctors. The group has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court for the release of the detained healthcare workers (Al Jazeera).

Both the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention — a UN body that investigates cases where people are held without legal basis — have called for Israel to release Dr. Abu Safia and all arbitrarily detained medical personnel. MSF stated that "for too long, too many world leaders have failed to condemn Israel's conduct in Palestine. Silence has become complicity."

The broader context here is that these demands are converging from three directions: an international medical charity, UN human rights bodies, and an Israeli civil society group filing petitions in Israel's own courts. That puts pressure on two separate tracks at once. The international track runs through UN mechanisms like the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, while the domestic track runs through the Israeli Supreme Court petition filed by Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Together, they test how far the legal protections for medical personnel in conflict zones — protections established under international humanitarian law — actually extend in practice.

Israel's use of the "unlawful combatant" classification is the legal foundation for holding these workers without trial. Unlike prisoners of war, who are entitled to certain protections under the Geneva Conventions, or civilian detainees who must be charged or released, the "unlawful combatant" label allows the state to hold individuals indefinitely without formal charges. The reports of torture and solitary confinement, corroborated by defense counsel, raise separate obligations under the Convention Against Torture, an international treaty Israel has signed and ratified.

The scale of the detentions also feeds directly into the collapse of Gaza's healthcare system. With 95 healthcare workers reportedly still detained and 446 processed through the system since October 2023, the removal of medical staff compounds the deterioration of Gaza's hospitals. The targeting of hospital directors and specialized surgeons like Dr. Obeid directly affects whether trauma care in northern Gaza can function at all.

MSF's charge of complicity is aimed not only at Israel but at third-party states — countries that have their own obligations under the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law. The argument that "silence has become complicity" is both a moral appeal and a legal one, pressing governments that have not spoken up to act. Whether the domestic pressure through Israel's Supreme Court or the international pressure through UN channels produces any shift in detention policy is the key question for the medical staff who remain in custody.