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Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, has lost about 55 pounds since Israeli forces abducted him in December, and is suffering from a serious case of scabies, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), which visited him last week. The renowned pediatrician was given a new pair of clothes for the first time on September 25, the morning of his visit with PHRI, the group reported.

Abu Safiya’s request to see a doctor for the scabies and heart problems have been ignored, according to PHRI.

“Dr. Abu Safiya described the violence perpetrated by prison guards during frequent cell searches,” PHRI posted on X. “According to him, detainees receive very small amounts of food, many of them have lost a significant amount of weight, and they have been held in dirty clothes for months.”

“Six months have passed since the publishing of our report, which documented the arbitrary detention of more than 100 medical personnel from Gaza,” the group continued. “Since the report’s publication, our organization has visited more than 25 of them and gathered additional testimonies about ongoing physical violence, repeated cell raids, lack of food and medical treatment, and months of detention in dirty clothes.”

All detained health care workers are “currently being held without charge, some for more than a year,” according to the group, which called for their immediate release.

Israeli forces targeted Kamal Adwan Hospital long before the military abducted Abu Safiya in December. A year before his abduction, in December of 2023, Israeli forces conducted their first raid on the hospital........

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