By Richard Burden
12 Feb 2025
Last month, I wrote about the haunting photo of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya standing alone and unarmed in front of advancing Israeli tanks amid ruins around his hospital in Gaza. I called the post “What courage looks like.”
Soon after the photo was taken, Dr Abu Safiya was abducted by Israeli soldiers and taken out of Gaza. He was held in solitary confinement for 24 days and he is still in Israeli military detention. No charges have been brought against him. There is also no sign about if or when the Israeli military intend to release him.
Dr Abu Safiya is one of thousands of Palestinian civilians who are held without charge by Israel. Under Stage One of the current ceasefire deal, a few hundred Palestinian prisoners have been released by Israel in the past few weeks in exchange for some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. But hundreds more Palestinians have been taken prisoner in the West Bank during the ceasefire – adding to the thousands still in Israeli military jails. This is going on whether or not the current fragile ceasefire in Gaza continues to hold.
Dr Abu Safiya’s son has posted an update on his father’s health and on the conditions in which he is being held in an Israeli military prison. Please read it and add your voice to those calling for his release.
https://x.com/HussamAbuSafiya/status/1889412170766754224
Richard Burden was Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. He now chairs Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. He is a community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights, a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.