Dr. Abu Safiya: I Do Not Know Why I am Here

Gaza, MINA – Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, said he did not know the charges or the reason for his detention, Anadolu Agency reported.

The remarks came in an interview with reporter Yossi Eli of Israel’s Channel 13 broadcast on Wednesday night.

This marks Abu Safiya’s first appearance since her arrest by Israeli forces in December. She was seen in Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank with a pale face and her hands and feet cuffed.

Abu Safiya rose to fame for her humanitarian role during the Israeli genocide in Gaza and was one of the leading doctors who continued to work under bombardment to save the wounded and injured.

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Israeli forces arrested her in late December after storming Kamal Adwan Hospital, forcing her out at gunpoint after the hospital was destroyed and rendered inoperable.

As the Israeli genocide escalated, Abu Safiya paid a heavy price when her son, Ibrahim, was killed in an Israeli army raid on the hospital on October 26.

On November 24, 2024, Abu Safiya was injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the hospital, but she refused to leave and continued to treat patients and the injured.

During her interview with the Israeli journalist, she said: “I was originally a pediatrician and worked as a temporary substitute doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital.”

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The Palestinian doctor denied ever seeing or dealing with Israeli prisoners at the hospital.

He also denied that Palestinian militants were receiving treatment there, saying that “ultimately, I convey a humanitarian message, and those who receive treatment at our facility are ordinary civilians.”

Abu Safiya reiterated that he did not know why he was arrested or what charges he faced, saying “I do not know why I am here… I do not know. []

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

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