(Photo credit: Sky News)
Israel will not include two prominent Palestinian doctors, Hussam Abu Safia and Marwan al-Hams, as part of the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal, a Hamas official revealed on 11 October.
“The occupation refused to release Dr. Hussam Abu Safia,” a Hamas official told CNN on Friday.
As part of the ceasefire, Israel is set to release 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians detained in Gaza since the start of the genocide two years ago.
In turn, Hamas will release the remaining 46 Israeli captives, including 20 who remain alive.
Abu Safia was abducted by Israeli troops in December 2024 and taken to the Sde Teiman detention center, where Palestinians have been killed, tortured, and sexually assaulted.
He was detained with dozens of others during an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of many throughout the war.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, people were executed during the raid, including medical staff and displaced civilians who had been sheltering in the hospital.
Israel claimed without evidence that Abu Safia was a member of Hamas and said it was “investigating him.”
In February 2025, his family announced that he was facing “severe torture and mistreatment” at the hands of Israeli jailers, noting that he was being given only one “poor quality” meal per day.
At the time, they said his legal case was collapsing due to Israel’s failure to present credible evidence. They expressed hope that he would eventually be released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement.
Abu Safia’s lawyer, Ghaida Qassem, said in July that the hospital director had lost around 40 kilograms since his abduction and detention by Israel, dropping from around 100 kilograms to 60 kilograms.
Israeli authorities have prevented Abu Safia from accessing much-needed medication and treatment, particularly for his condition of irregular heartbeats.
“He remains dressed in winter clothing under extreme conditions of starvation, torture, and complete isolation,” Qassem’s statement went on to say.
The Hamas official also told CNN that Marwan al-Hams, the director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah and an official overseeing field hospitals in Gaza, will also not be released.
Hams was abducted in July by an undercover Israeli force as they raided a cafe near the ICRC field hospital on Al-Rasheed Coastal Street in Al-Mawasi, western Rafah.
During the raid, they shot and injured Hams while killing freelance photojournalists Tamer Rebhi Rafiq al-Zaanin and Ibrahim Atef Atiyah Abu Asheibah.
At the time of the raid, Hams was participating in the filming of a documentary produced by Zaanin.
The men abducted the injured Hams and drove away in a white vehicle.
According to Hams’ son, he is being held in Ashkelon Prison. His daughter, Tasneem, is also being held in the same prison.
Tasneem is a nurse and was abducted by an Israeli special unit while on her way to work in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis.
Sources speaking with Quds Press indicated that Palestinian collaborator with Israel, Yasser Abu Shabab, played a role in the abduction of Dr. Hams.
Abu Shabab’s “Popular Forces” were armed and funded by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence agency, to loot aid convoys entering Gaza as part of Israel’s starvation siege.
Middle East Eye (MEE) reports that, according to data from the Palestinian Healthcare Workers Watch, at least 28 doctors from Gaza have been abducted and are being held in Israeli custody.
Eight of them are senior consultants in surgery, orthopedics, intensive care, cardiology, and pediatrics.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported earlier this month that due to Israeli airstrikes and shelling, only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain able to deliver some essential health services.
The WHO estimates that Israeli violence has caused nearly 42,000 people in Gaza to suffer life-altering injuries, including blows to the limbs, spinal cord, and brain.
According to UN data, Israel has killed 1,722 health workers during the genocide, an average of two per day.
