UK aid group calls for release of detained Palestinian health care workers

LONDON

The UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) called Thursday on the British government to take "urgent action" to protect health care workers in Gaza, including the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained last month by Israel.

In a statement, MAP pointed out the increase in Israel's systematic attacks targeting Gaza's health system and medical staff, which is "making Palestinian survival impossible."

"We at MAP are extremely concerned for the life and safety of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian health care workers detained by Israeli forces," said Fikr Shalltoot, MAP’s Gaza director.

He added that these detentions, alongside systematic assaults on hospitals in North Gaza, have left tens of thousands of people without access to health care and forced them to flee southwards.

On Dec. 27, following repeated attacks, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza and burnt and severely damaged essential buildings, forcing the hospital out of service. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, was detained along with dozens of other medical staff.

On Tuesday, responding to an urgent question on the detention of Abu Safiya and North Gaza in the House of Commons, Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, called on Israel to "urgently clarify the reasons for his detention."

"While we welcome the minister’s decision to raise Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s case with Israel, it is wholly insufficient to merely seek clarity on the reasons for his detention without demanding his release and that of all health workers arbitrarily detained by Israel," Rohan Talbot, MAP’s director of Advocacy and Campaigns, said in the statement.

"The UK government’s meager diplomatic response is shameful and a dereliction of its moral and legal responsibilities," added Talbot.

The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed almost 46,000 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.