‘My Father Is a Hero’: Detained Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s Son Speaks to Zeteo
‘Being a doctor is not a crime,’ Elyas Abu Safiya tells Zeteo’s Diana Buttu, as his father’s health behind Israeli bars deteriorates rapidly.
Elyas Abu Safiya hasn’t seen his father in person in 19 months. The last time he did, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was doing what he had done for most of his life: taking care of other people, saving lives.
On Dec. 27, 2024, the Israeli army abducted Dr. Abu Safiya from the Kamal Adwan Hospital – the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza. His son, Ibrahim, was killed in an Israeli bombing in October 2024.
For a week, Israeli authorities denied that they had abducted him. When they finally admitted they were holding him, Israel didn’t disclose his whereabouts for more than a month. He has since been moved around to different prisons, but Israel has shared little other information. We know he’s being held under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants” Law – a fictitious legal classification (it does not exist in international law) that Israel uses to indefinitely imprison Palestinians without charge or trial. We know he’s been tortured, and has lost an extreme amount of weight – so weak, he is unable to sit upright. During one of his last visits with his lawyer, he said: “They brought me here to kill me. I don’t see myself surviving. This is the end.”
Elyas, helpless, has had to wait for updates from afar – first from Gaza, and now from Kazakhstan, where his family moved late last year. I recently spoke to him about the campaign to release his father, his message to Donald Trump and new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and what his dad taught him about loving Palestine. His answers have been translated from Arabic to English and edited for length and clarity below:
What is the latest information that you have on your father?