Tlaib, Democrats Call for Israel to Release Palestinian Doctors From Detention

A group of House Democrats has called for Israel to release hundreds of health care workers, including physicians like Hussam Abu Safiya, from detention as Israel’s genocide in Gaza reaches into its fourth year.

Six Democrats, led by Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (Illinois), released a joint statement on Tuesday condemning Israel for its “systematic persecution” of Palestinian health care workers and demanding their release from arbitrary detention.

“Over the last three years, the Israeli government has systematically destroyed the health system in Palestine, murdering at least 1,700 Palestinian doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers and destroying dozens of hospitals. It has arrested and arbitrarily detained hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers, including at least 16 physicians who continue to be held in inhumane conditions,” the lawmakers wrote.

The Democrats specifically call for the release of Abu Safiya, who Israel has held in its torture camps for nearly two years, where they have starved and tortured him, his lawyer says. Abu Safiya is a pediatrician who served as the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza when Israel besieged the area.

The world watched in December 2024 as Israel’s ground raid closed in on Kamal Adwan, with Israeli forces eventually ordering the entire facility to be evacuated, setting it ablaze and arresting Abu Safiya. The hospital was left in ruins after Israeli soldiers were done with it.

“Among [those detained] is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, whom the Israeli government has arbitrarily detained since 2024 and tortured to the point of near-death after previously murdering his son and brutally attacking his hospital,” the lawmakers went on.

The statement was signed by Representatives Pramila Jayapal (Washington), Summer Lee (Pennsylvania), Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Delia C. Ramirez (Illinois), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan).

The Democrats also called for an end to arms transfers to Israel and urged Congress to block the Trump administration’s planned $2.8 billion package of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel — which is slated to be paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Other Democrats have also vowed to work against that transfer.

In three years of genocide in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 1,700 health care workers and has left zero hospitals fully functioning in the enclave. Israeli forces have also detained more than 400 health care workers from Gaza without charges or a trial in their torture camps.

Israel has killed nearly 600 aid workers since October 7, 2023, according to UN counts.

“Over the past three years, people’s ability to access health care in Gaza has deteriorated dramatically, with medical facilities lying in ruins, hospitals increasingly running out of basic supplies, and patients unable to access essential medicines and treatments. Restrictions on essential supplies such as engine oil and spare parts are also crippling the infrastructure needed to keep hospitals, ambulances, and water systems running, with generators breaking down and water-trucking operations reduced,” said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a statement on Monday.

“It will take generations to recover from the harm that has already been done over the past three years, and in the preceding decades, while the excruciating consequences of Israel’s ongoing genocide are still being felt every day,” said Amande Bazerolle, the head of MSF’s emergency response in Gaza.