Main events on December 28th
- Israel’s military confirmed detaining Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in besieged northern Gaza, after its forces raided the facility and set fire to it. The doctor’s whereabouts remain unknown.
- Some of the hundreds of patients and medics who were taken from Kamal Adwan and later released say they were beaten and humiliated by the Israeli military.
- At least 36 Palestinians were killed and many more wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Saturday, the Wafa news agency reported, citing medical sources.
- Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, the state secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned Israel’s assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital and said that Oslo had “a political obligation, a moral imperative, to speak out in favour of” Palestinians.
- The Houthis claim that they shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen.
- In Israel, the families of captives held by Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of sabotaging negotiations for a ceasefire as hundreds of protesters again took to the streets of Tel Aviv demanding a deal.
Amnesty chief highlights plight of Kamal Adwan director
Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, has called attention to the arrest of Dr Abu Safia.
“His whereabouts are not known,” she said in a post on X.
Callamard also noted that Abu Safia is considered a human rights defender by Front Line Defenders, an Irish-based organisation that works to protect people who are “at risk for their peaceful and legitimate human rights work”.
The Israeli military confirmed that it has arrested Abu Safia and more than 240 others from the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
It said he was being held for questioning.
Dr Hussem Abu Safiyeh was arrested by Israeli military soon after this photo was taken. His whereabouts are not known. He was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza until it was forcibly evacuated by Israel. @FrontLineHRD considers him a human rights defender.… pic.twitter.com/kP7sfUefix
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) December 28, 2024
Israeli forces beat, humiliate Palestinians taken from Kamal Adwan, freed detainees say
As we’ve been reporting, the Israeli military detained hundreds of Palestinians during their raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Friday. Some of them have been released and spoke to the media about the violence and abuse they suffered at the hands of Israeli soldiers.
“The Israeli soldiers tied us up and blindfolded us,” said Ismail al-Kahlout. “We could hear people screaming and knew who exactly was being beaten… They beat us with sticks and batons in the cold. They later took hundreds of Palestinians away with them.”