The U.K.-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) on Thursday called on the British government to take "urgent action" to protect healthcare workers in Gaza, including the detained director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was taken into custody by Israel last month.
In its statement, MAP highlighted the increasing frequency of what it described as Israel’s systematic assaults on Gaza’s health care system and medical personnel, warning that such actions are making "Palestinian survival impossible."
"We at MAP are extremely concerned for the life and safety of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian health care workers detained by Israeli forces," said Fikr Shalltoot, MAP’s Gaza director.
Shalltoot added that these detentions, combined with systematic assaults on hospitals in northern Gaza, have left tens of thousands of people without access to health care and forced many to flee southward.
On Dec. 27, following repeated attacks, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, severely damaging essential buildings and forcing the hospital out of service. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, was detained along with dozens of other medical staff.
On Tuesday, in response to an urgent question in the House of Commons regarding the detention of Abu Safiya, Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East, called on Israel to "urgently clarify the reasons for his detention."
"While we welcome the minister’s decision to raise Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s case with Israel, it is wholly insufficient to merely seek clarity on the reasons for his detention without demanding his release and that of all health workers arbitrarily detained by Israel," Rohan Talbot, MAP’s director of advocacy and campaigns, said in the statement.
"The U.K. government’s meager diplomatic response is shameful and a dereliction of its moral and legal responsibilities," Talbot added.
The Israeli military has continued its war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 46,000 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) related to its actions in the enclave.
