Iran's top medical association urges ‘safe’ release of Gaza hospital’s director after Israeli raid

The Academy of Medical Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran raised serious concerns over the detention of the Kamal Adwan Hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, in Gaza by the Israeli regime, calling for his “safe” release.

News ID: 5700

Date: 05 January 2025 - 11:20

TABNAK, Jan 05: The president of the Academy, Alireza Marandi, made this demand in a letter to the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The letter was titled “Urgent Call for Action Regarding the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza.”

“We implore you to actively follow up on his (Abu Safiya) situation and work towards preventing further atrocities against healthcare professionals,” Marandi wrote.

He said the recent destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last remaining refuge for countless vulnerable Palestinians in the north, exposed the “unprecedented level of barbarism.”

On December 28, Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Kamal Adwan Hospital, with the Gaza Health Ministry saying an estimated 50 people, including medical staff, were killed in the attacks and the rest were abducted by the occupation forces.

Dr. Abu Safiya was among those taken for questioning by the Israeli military over alleged links to the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

In his letter, Marandi called on the WHO chief to prevent atrocities against healthcare professionals such as those experienced by Adnan al-Bursh, who was raped and tortured to death.

Bursh, a Palestinian surgeon and professor of orthopedic medicine, lost his life in April as a result of torture at the Israeli-run Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank after more than four months of detention.

Marandi pointed to the dire humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Gaza and the death of nearly 50,000 innocent civilians in “the ongoing Holocaust” in the besieged Strip and said the actual number of Palestinian casualties is believed to be much higher.

“The genocide, which is the first to be broadcast live for the international community to see, reached a new critical point in northern Gaza, where relentless bombings continue to target remaining hospitals and medical facilities among other civilian targets,” he added.

He hailed Abu Safiya’s heroic resistance against Israel and his efforts to provide care for victims, while he tragically lost his 8-year-old son in a targeted Israeli attack.

Marandi, who formerly served as health minister, stressed the importance of the WHO chief’s leadership at this juncture to “ensure that the rights and safety of Palestinian medical personnel are protected and that the voices of those suffering are amplified.”

The Gaza Health Ministry has said an estimated 50 people, including medical staff, were killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, and the rest were abducted by the occupation forces.

The Israeli regime acknowledged that it raided the area of the hospital and detained at least 240 staffers, claiming that the facility was being used as a “Hamas terror stronghold.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned the deadly Israeli attack on the hospital as “a heinous war crime” and part of the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian lands, describing the silence of relevant international institutions on the matter as “unjustifiable.”

Since October 2023, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has resulted in at least 45,717 deaths, most of them women and children, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.