Israel bars Arab lawmaker from visiting detained Palestinian doctor Abu Safiya

Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi says move reflects hardline policies of Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir

The Israeli Prison Service on Wednesday barred Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi from visiting detained Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya in line with the hardline policies of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, according to Tibi’s office. “Prison authorities prevented MK Dr. Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab Movement for Change, from meeting Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip, who is being held in Israeli prisons,” Tibi’s office said in a statement. The Israeli authorities have been holding Abu Safiya since late December 2024 amid its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that began on Oct. 8, 2023. According to Tibi’s office, the decision to bar Tibi from visiting Abu Safiya was made in line with Ben-Gvir’s policy of preventing Knesset members from visiting Palestinian detainees whom Israel classifies as “security prisoners.” Tibi had formally requested permission to visit Abu Safiya and assess his wellbeing – and the conditions of his detention – after attending an Israeli Supreme Court hearing on a petition requesting Abu Safiya’s release. According to Tibi’s office, the Israeli Prison Service rejected the request. “Preventing me from meeting Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is a purely political decision issued by Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted of supporting terrorism,” Tibi said. Abu Safiya, Tibi added, “is a doctor and hospital director who was detained after remaining alongside his patients during one of the most difficult periods the health sector in Gaza has ever experienced.” In late November 2024, Abu Safiya was injured in an Israeli strike on Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, but refused to leave the facility and continued treating patients and the wounded. A month later, he was detained when Israeli forces stormed the hospital and forced him – at gunpoint – to leave. Tibi also condemned the recent detention of Dima Barqat, a Palestinian obstetrics and gynecology specialist, who was detained early Tuesday after Israeli forces raided her home in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. “The arrest of Dr. Dima Barqat from her home, along with the continued detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and around 100 other medical personnel, is condemnable and deeply concerning,” Tibi said. Israel is currently holding some 9,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 94 women and more than 350 children, according to Palestinian figures. Both Palestinian and Israeli rights groups have said that Palestinian prisoners face torture, starvation and medical neglect – conditions that have led to dozens of deaths.