Published On 6/5/2026
Elias Hossam Abu Safiya, the son of detained Palestinian doctor Hossam Abu Safiya, revealed what he described as disturbing developments related to his father inside Israeli prisons, stressing that the occupation authorities recently transferred him to solitary confinement in Nafha Desert Prison, following legal moves taken by the defense team to challenge his continued detention.
Elias Abu Safiya said, in an appeal on Al Jazeera Live, that the decision to transfer his father to solitary confinement came after the lawyer and the defense team submitted legal procedures to review his detention file, considering that this punitive step increased the family’s concerns about his health and psychological conditions, in light of the limited information they received about his conditions inside the prison.
He added that the family is living in a constant state of anxiety and fear for his father’s fate, noting that his detention is taking place in conditions he described as difficult and tragic, and that the absence of news and reassurance increases the family’s suffering day after day.
He added that time passes very slowly for family members who are awaiting any information that reassures them of their father’s safety.
Nasser Odeh, Abu Safiya’s lawyer, told Al Jazeera yesterday that Abu Safiya’s transfer to Nafha prison and his solitary confinement came as a direct punitive measure against the doctor in response to the filing of an appeal against the decision to continue his arbitrary detention.
A message to Anas Al-Sharif
Elias Abu Safiya recalled a humanitarian stance that he said happened about two months ago, when he received a letter from his father asking him, if possible, to communicate with the late journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who was martyred in August 2025, to remind the world of the issue of the prisoners and their suffering. He pointed out that his father believed at the time that Al-Sharif was still alive, and saw in him a voice capable of conveying the suffering of Palestinian prisoners to world public opinion.
The son of the detained doctor believed that this message reflects the extent of the isolation that his father experiences inside the prison, and his adherence to the hope that the suffering of the prisoners will reach the world, stressing that his father was looking for any window that conveys the truth of what is happening behind bars, and for any voice capable of reminding the international community of the suffering of the detainees and their families.
At the conclusion of his appeal, Abu Safiya renewed his appeal to human rights and humanitarian institutions and the media to continue to shed light on his father’s case and the issues of Palestinian prisoners in general, considering that silence regarding these issues leaves the prisoners and their families facing pain and fear alone.
He stressed that the family’s message is not political, but primarily humanitarian, expressing the children’s longing for their father, the grandchildren’s longing for their grandfather, and the family’s hope to see him free and safe among his family members, thanking everyone who contributes to conveying the voice of the prisoners and their suffering to the world.
The occupation army had arrested Hossam Abu Safiya on December 27, 2024, when it stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. His detention was extended more than once during the year 2025, including a decision on October 16, 2025 to extend it for an additional 6 months.
