MSF demands Israel release detained Palestinian health workers, including Hussam Abu Safiya

Geneva: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called Monday for the immediate release of all Palestinian healthcare workers “arbitrarily detained” by Israel.

“MSF is outraged by the treatment of healthcare workers, most of whom are being detained in dire conditions, without justification or cause,” it said in a statement.

The medical charity joined calls for the release of Hussam Abu Safiya, a paediatrician and the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been held since December 2024.

His detention “follows an appalling pattern of the Israeli authorities detaining and targeting medical staff across Palestine”, said Geneva-based MSF.

Israel said earlier this month that his detention was “lawful”, and rejected reports of him suffering with a life-threatening condition.

The statement came after a United Nations investigative team and several UN rights experts raised the alarm about the case.

About 50 people, including doctors, trade unionists and pro-Palestinian activists, gathered outside France’s foreign ministry in Paris on Thursday to call for his release.

MSF said that its orthopaedic surgeon Mohammed Obeid “has been detained in Israel for more than 600 days, in difficult conditions, and without any contact with his family”.

Doctors Without Borders said he was arrested by Israeli forces on October 26, 2024 by Israeli forces while on duty at the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

It reiterated its call for his immediate and unconditional release.

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“The practice of arbitrarily detaining, torturing and abusing Palestinian medical staff in Israel is unacceptable. For too long, too many world leaders have failed to condemn Israel’s conduct in Palestine,” the non-governmental organisation said.

“We call for the release of all arbitrarily detained medical personnel immediately. Pending their release, they must be granted access to adequate medical care and dignified detention conditions.”

MSF added that 15 of its colleagues had been killed since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas in October 7, 2023.

In October 2025, a ceasefire was reached in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, though violence has persisted since.