Detained Palestinian doctor appears before Israel’s Supreme Court after 500 days

Hussam Abu Safiya, the detained Palestinian doctor whose case has become a flashpoint over wartime state power, appeared by video link before Israel’s Supreme Court in Jerusalem on June 10 as his lawyer challenged his detention. The hearing put a rare public frame on a case that rights groups say has stretched past 500 days without charge, raising questions about how far Israel’s courts will go in reviewing the treatment of a high-profile detainee from Gaza.

Abu Safiya was captured by the Israeli military at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza after the hospital was raided on December 27, 2024. Amnesty International said the raid detained Abu Safiya along with other medical staff and patients and forced the hospital, described as the last major functioning medical facility in North Gaza, out of service. The loss of that hospital deepened an already acute collapse in emergency and routine care for residents who had relied on the site for treatment, surgery and stabilization amid the war.

His appearance on Tuesday was the first time he had been seen publicly since February 2025, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel. Media were briefly allowed into the courtroom before being ushered out as proceedings began. By then, observers said Abu Safiya looked markedly thinner. His brother said in April that the family had learned through the doctor’s lawyer that he had lost 40 kilograms in prison and suffered four fractured ribs and other ailments.

Israel has accused Abu Safiya of belonging to Hamas, but no verifiable evidence has been made public. Gaza’s health ministry and Hamas deny the allegation. Rights groups say he has been held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, a legal framework that allows prolonged detention without charge, and have argued that the case shows how emergency powers can outlast the immediate battlefield conditions that justify them.

After the hearing, Abu Safiya’s lawyer said he had been handcuffed and shackled throughout the proceedings, was being held in solitary confinement and was receiving treatment for severe neck and back pain. The lawyer also said his eyeglasses had been confiscated and that his hands showed signs of skin disease. In late April, Physicians for Human Rights Israel said another Israeli court extended his detention without filing charges and rejected a defense request for his immediate release. Last month, the same group petitioned the Supreme Court over 14 Gaza doctors it says have been held for more than a year without charge and denied adequate food and medical care, placing Abu Safiya’s case inside a wider challenge to Israel’s detention practices and the treatment of medical workers from Gaza.