By Pesha Magid
JERUSALEM, April 30 (Reuters) – An Israeli rights organisation petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday to demand the immediate release of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza who have been held without charge for more than a year.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said the doctors have been denied adequate medical care and food and subjected to physical abuse while in detention. The group said they are being held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, which allows for indefinite detention without charge.
“The Israeli army already investigated them and despite the lack of any evidence incriminating them … (prosecutors) decided to continue their detention,” said lawyer Nasser Odeh, who represents Hussam Abu Safiya, the detained director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Israel’s Prison Service told Reuters it rejected all allegations that the doctors had been mistreated in prison. It was not immediately clear if or when the court would hear the petition.
HUNDREDS OF HEALTH WORKERS DETAINED DURING GAZA WAR
The 14 doctors are among nearly 400 healthcare workers detained by Israel during its two-year assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, according to PHRI.
Many of those detained were freed in prisoner exchanges after ceasefires, including a U.S.-backed truce in October intended to halt fighting. Around 60 healthcare workers remain in detention, including the doctors represented by PHRI.
None of the 14 doctors has been formally charged or told why they are being held, the organisation said.
Abu Safiya is the most prominent of the doctors still being held. His arrest during an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, in late 2024 drew international condemnation.
His brother, Muafaq Abu Safiya, said they were informed by their lawyer that Hussam Abu Safiya had lost 40 kg (88 lb) while in prison, and suffered four fractured ribs along with other ailments.
“All the crimes inflicted on him by the occupation (Israel) were just because he refused to leave the hospital and patients,” said Muafaq.
After the hospital raid, the Israeli military said Abu Safiya was being questioned as a suspect and accused him of being a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but it has not provided verifiable evidence. Gaza’s health ministry and Hamas have denied the allegation.
Asked about allegations that he was tortured or deprived of food, the military requested Abu Safiya’s identification number and said it could not examine his case without it. The Prison Service did not comment on Abu Safiya’s case specifically.
GAZA’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM DESTROYED
During its military campaign, Israel raided and bombed hospitals and largely destroyed Gaza’s healthcare system, actions rights groups say may violate international law.
“We started to understand that the Israeli army, one of its main policies is to destroy the health system in Gaza,” said Naji Abbas, PHRI’s director of the prisoners and detainees department.
Israel says Hamas used hospitals to plan attacks and operate from tunnels beneath them – claims the group denies – and has accused some Gaza health workers, including doctors, of having links to the militant group.
Israeli attacks killed more than 1,700 healthcare workers between October 2023 and October 2025, according to the Medical Aid for Palestinians association.
One prominent surgeon died in 2024 while in Israeli detention. The Israeli Prison Service has said it was investigating the death.
(Reporting by Pesha Magid; editing by Rami Ayyub and Ros Russell)
