During our successfully conducted visit today to Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was arrested in December 2024 and remains incarcerated in Israel, a serious and alarming picture emerged.

Since his arrest, Dr. Abu Safiya has lost approximately 25 kilograms. He suffers from serious scabies and heart problems but is not receiving any medical treatment. It became clear during the visit that Dr. Abu Safiya has not been brought before a judge, investigated, or given any information about the reason for his arrest since March. Dr. Abu Safiya described the violence perpetrated by prison guards during frequent cell searches. 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.

For weeks, Gaza’s Health Ministry has warned that local hospitals are on the brink of total power loss due to a critical fuel shortage, threatening the shutdown of life-saving medical equipment. To stretch the limited fuel, hospitals have started turning off even vital devices. Dr. Deirdre Nunan, an orthopedic surgeon at Nasser Hospital, explained that last Wednesday morning, the hospital was forced to shut off the air conditioning system. She stressed that air conditioning is not merely a matter of comfort—it plays a vital role in infection control, as heat fosters bacteria and raises the risk of infection.
She added, “We’re operating without air conditioning. Physicians are sweating into open wounds, and nurses are wiping their foreheads with bandages.”

On Sunday, Israel bombed Nasser #Hospital in Khan Younis - just a week after targeting the Turkish-#Palestinian Hospital. The attack reportedly killed at least five people, including Ismail Barhoum, a senior member of Hamas’ political bureau. With Nasser Hospital now destroyed, only three hospitals remain in southern Gaza, all operating at limited capacity.

The world is experiencing its worst #refugee crisis since World War II, presenting nations, organizations, and individuals with profound moral dilemmas. Amid this humanitarian challenge, some are exploiting the crisis to introduce oppressive and unjust policies. Instead of fostering initiatives that promote aid, inclusion, and humanitarian support, the Israeli government is once again using the chaos of war as a cover to revive draconian legislation targeting refugees and asylum seekers.

At 2 a.m. yesterday, without prior warning, Israel launched a series of relentless airstrikes across the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, over 400 people were killed in a single night. In addition to the countless casualties, these bombings also put the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas at risk. As the airstrikes resumed, Israel ordered the closure of the #Rafah crossing, blocking thousands of sick and injured Palestinians from seeking critical medical care outside Gaza. Just days earlier, a damning UN report accused Israel of carrying out severe crimes and acts of genocide against the population of Gaza, its healthcare system, and especially targeting women. With Gaza's hospitals severely harmed—leaving just half of them partially operational—the lives of critically ill and wounded patients awaiting evacuation are in immediate danger. Meanwhile, Israel continues to block all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and has completely cut off its electricity supply.

@realDonaldTrump latest statement is not just reckless rhetoric - it is a dangerous call for ethnic cleansing. The forced displacement of a population is a grave violation of international law and must be unequivocally rejected. No political deal, no so-called "redevelopment plan," and no leader has the right to erase a people from their land. We refuse to normalize discourse that treats Palestinian lives as bargaining chips.

For weeks, the Israeli military has relentlessly attacked the West Bank city of #Jenin and its surrounding villages, with the refugee camp bearing the brunt of the assault. Roads have been destroyed, entrances and exits blocked, and around 80% of the camp’s residents have been forced to evacuate their homes. As a result, they’ve been severed from vital services, including #medical care.

Statements made yesterday by Dr. Guy Shalev, Executive Director of PHRI, during an interview with @CNN:
Because of the high profile of Dr. Abu #safiya, the director of the last major hospital in #Gaza, the Army had to change their statement & say that they are indeed holding him. But the formal response that we got was that they don't have any indication of his whereabouts. It is important to think about that for a second, because we are getting this response for hundreds of other detainees. They don't have Abu Safiya’s high profile. We are requesting their location in order to visit them with our lawyers. Sometimes it takes months until we locate someone. Sometimes people are dying in custody without us knowing

We are outraged by the Israeli Health Ministry's decision to cut off treatments for status-less children on the #autism spectrum, including the children of asylum seekers and #migrant workers. This decision is a blatant act of discrimination against some of society's most vulnerable children, directly violating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Israel’s obligations under international law.

The Israeli military has reportedly again arrested #medical personnel this week - including physicians, nurses, and paramedics - at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern #Gaza, taking them to undisclosed locations. In recent months, our lawyers have been able to visit a few of the Palestinian physicians and nurses still held by Israel after their arrests in Gaza and subsequent months of disappearance.

We urgently reiterate our call to stop the escalation of the #humanitarian catastrophe in northern #Gaza. In recent weeks, following Israel's intensified military operations and evacuation orders issued between October 5 and 7, the humanitarian crisis has escalated to unprecedented levels.

The scenes unfolding in #Rafah mirror those of 6 months back: Panicked civilians caught in the crossfire, desperately seeking safety. Crossings are shut, convoys carrying food, aid, and fuel are left to be looted and attacked. On Rafah's Egyptian side, trucks have been waiting for over a week to enter. Yet by now, more than 1.5 million Gazans have endured repeated displacement, hunger, injury, trauma, and disease, living in dense tent camps. They've been repeatedly forced to relocate to unsafe and targeted areas devoid of hospitals- without any plan to ensure their safety.

Since October 7th, we have been cautiously addressing accounts of violence, including instances of #sexual and gender-based violence committed by Israeli military and security forces against #Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Concurrently, UN experts have expressed concern about evidence indicating that Palestinian women and girls in Israeli custody have faced various forms of sexual assault. PHRI urges a thorough investigation into these testimonies and reports as potential war crimes.

The position paper we published today surveys the #sexual and gender-based #violence committed during the October 7 #Hamas attacks. It aims to highlight the rehabilitation needs of survivors and witnesses of the violence - and urge an investigation of crimes against humanity. The position paper relies on survivor testimonies, security and emergency personnel accounts, and visual evidence circulated online. While the currently available information is partial, we must already address the sexual violence that occurred during the October 7 attacks.

🚨 The red line has been crossed. Following a month of aerial bombardment of civilian and #medical infrastructure, a severe siege, and a ban on the entry of critical equipment for the continued operation of #hospitals – all hope seems lost. The destruction and killing have reached an unfathomable scale. We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to the assault in a last effort to prevent the further killing of thousands of civilians.

Dr. Ahmad Mahajna, a dedicated and valued cardiothoracic resident at Hadassah Hospital, recently became the victim of a racist, nationalist, and populist witch hunt.
According to our inquiries, it all began with a naive gesture. >> The department’s staff celebrated & decided to give out their leftover refreshments to patients – Among them was a 16yo Palestinian in police custody. The officers accompanying the patient complained to the hospital management about the physician’s decision to offer him candy. >>