On Thursday, the IDF told Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI) that it had “no indication of the arrest or detention of the person concerned.”
PHRI filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday demanding that Dr. Abu Safiya’s whereabouts be revealed. It states that the court gave the IDF a week to comply.
Meanwhile, Amnesty chief Agnès Callamard said the Israeli authorities should “urgently disclose his whereabouts”.
She said Israel detained “hundreds of Palestinian health workers from Gaza without charge or trial” and said they were “subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and held in incommunicado detention.”
Israel denies ill-treatment of detainees.
Dr Abu Safia’s family previously told BBC Arabic that they believe he is being held at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces have taken many detainees from Gaza for questioning.
Whistleblowers have previously told the BBC and other international media extremely harsh conditions of detention there. Israel said all detainees were being held “carefully and properly”.
The IDF ordered everyone at Kamal Advan Hospital to leave early last Friday, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff into the courtyard, medical workers told the BBC.
Beit Lahia, where the hospital is located, has been under an intensified Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October. The UN said the area is under “almost total siege” as the Israeli military severely restricts access to aid supplies to the area, where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
