Let Red Cross see detained Director of Gaza hospital, Germany urges Israel

Germany, on Monday, called on Israel to allow access to the International Red Cross to visit the abducted Director of the Gaza-based Kamal Adwan Hospital, but stopped short of demanding his release, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We demand that Hussam Abu Safiya, the Director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, be treated according to international standards, has access to the International Red Cross and has access to legal support,” deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman, Christian Wagner, told journalists in Berlin.

Asked whether his country would support the doctor’s release, Wagner said merely that the three above-mentioned demands were what his government was calling for.

Wagner’s remarks come in the wake of calls by the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) who urged Israel to release Abu Safiya.

“Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza remains completely out of function and we have received no updates on the safety and wellbeing of its director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya since his detention on 27 December,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

“We continue to urge Israel to release him. We repeat: attacks on hospitals and health professionals must end. People in Gaza need access to health care,” Tedros added, repeating his call for a ceasefire.

Abu Safiya was detained by Israeli forces along with others during a raid on the hospital on 27 December.

The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 45,800 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on the enclave.

Hussam Abu Safiya: family calls for international action to protect him