Gaza health chief demands urgent medical intervention for detained doctor Hussam Abu Safia

Mounting fears for detained Gaza paediatrician Hussam Abu Safia

The director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health has called for urgent action to save the life of detained Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia before it is too late. [1] Fears mount for the life of Hussam Abu Safia, who has been held by Israel since 27 December 2024 under the unlawful combatant law. [1] The paediatrician led Kamal Adwan Hospital through an 85-day Israeli siege in northern Gaza before Israeli forces raided the facility and detained him. [1] Dr Muneer al-Boursh posted on X on Saturday that serious concerns are mounting over Abu Safia’s life and health. [1] Reports indicate that Abu Safia has been assaulted while in an Israeli detention facility and has sustained injuries to his eye, head and chest. [1] His lawyer, who visited him last month, reported new signs of beatings and torture. [1] Israel’s supreme court rejected an appeal for his release in June. [1] Rights groups including Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry have warned that his life is in imminent danger. [1] Al-Boursh said the irony of Abu Safia’s detention is agonising, noting that the doctor who stayed by his patients’ side at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the bleakest of circumstances now finds himself behind bars, stripped of his freedom. [1] Al-Boursh holds Israeli authorities fully responsible for Abu Safia’s life and safety and demands an urgent, independent and comprehensive medical examination for him, ensuring he receives the necessary treatment. [1] The ministry chief urged freedom for Abu Safia and all healthcare workers detained by Israel and called on the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the UN and medical and human rights groups to take action. [1]

Daily Israeli ceasefire violations across Gaza

The appeal came as Al Jazeera correspondents reported a sharp deterioration throughout Gaza’s health sector nearly 10 months into a ceasefire that Israel continues to breach on a near-daily basis. [1] On Saturday three Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire north of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. [1] Israeli forces carried out extensive demolition operations south of the city since the morning, while military vehicles continued firing east of Salah al-Din Street near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the centre of the enclave. [1] Al Jazeera’s Noor Khaled reported from Gaza City that the Israeli occupation has not adhered to the terms of the ceasefire nor even to the protocol attached to this ceasefire. [1] The Israeli-controlled yellow zones now cover more than 70 percent of the Strip, leaving Palestinians confined to less than 30 percent, most of it destroyed. [1] Crossings remain largely closed and around 20,000 patients were waiting to be evacuated for treatment abroad. [1] Of the 600 aid trucks which should deliver daily, what enters does not exceed 250 trucks. [1]

Israeli troops set up a roadblock in a Lebanese army-held village. — Source: france24

Collapsing health services and medicine shortages

From Deir al-Balah correspondent Ashraf Abu Amra said Nasser Hospital had reported three to four patients dying daily due to the shortage of medicines and medical supplies. [1] Last week Israeli forces destroyed a medical supply warehouse serving nearly half a million people in a direct strike near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. [1] Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s health system was among the hardest hit. [1] Sunghay said it will take generations for Palestinians in Gaza to recover from the trauma and loss. [1] He warned that malnutrition, collapsing shelter and lack of safe drinking water could not be tackled while the entry of dual-use materials remained blocked by Israel. [1] Gaza’s Health Ministry said hospitals received two people who had died of their wounds and six injured in the past 24 hours. [1] The latest casualties increased the death toll since the ceasefire began to 1,257 and 4,131 wounded. [1] In total Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians since October 2023. [1]

RSF launches fresh tribal recruitment drive in Darfur

The Sudanese rebel Rapid Support Forces militia has launched a new tribal mobilisation campaign in Darfur as it seeks fresh fighters following a series of battlefield setbacks against the Sudanese army and allied forces. [2] RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, called late last month for his forces to mobilise for an eventual return to Khartoum and intensified fighting across Kordofan. [2] The call followed significant RSF losses in the Blue Nile region and North Kordofan, including Bara, the second-largest city in North Kordofan state, and the strategic border town of Kurmuk. [2] The losses have increased pressure on the rebel paramilitary force as the Sudanese army and forces fighting alongside it attempt to push westwards towards Darfur, the RSF’s principal stronghold. [2] Media outlets and social media platforms close to the RSF have since reported that a number of tribal leaders in Darfur have responded to Hemedti’s mobilisation call. [2] Ibrahim Abdullah Mohammed, a prominent Fur tribal leader in South Darfur, reportedly pledged four combat brigades drawn from members of the tribe following a visit by Hemedti to his home in Nyala. [2] Arab tribal leaders have also reportedly promised to mobilise tens of thousands of fighters after RSF-affiliated civilian authorities held meetings with tribal figures in El Daein, El Geneina and Zalingei. [2] The new recruitment drive marks a return to a strategy that has played a central role in the RSF’s expansion since long before the outbreak of Sudan’s current war in April 2023. [2] The paramilitary force developed out of armed networks recruited heavily from communities in Darfur, and tribal mobilisation has remained an important source of manpower throughout the conflict. [2] In July 2023 leaders of seven predominantly Arab tribes gathered in Nyala and publicly announced their support for the paramilitary force. [2] The tribes included the Rizeigat, Beni Halba, Tergem, Habbaniya, Ta’aisha, Misseriya and Fallata. [2]

Sudanese army repels RSF attack in West Darfur. — Source: anadolu

Israeli incursions and shelling persist in southern Lebanon

Israeli troops infiltrated a Lebanese village placed under the control of Lebanon’s army as part of a June agreement, building an earthen barrier there overnight. [4] An AFP correspondent saw the barrier situated at the village’s eastern entrance and blocking the road in Zawtar al-Gharbiya. [4] The local authorities said it was unclear if any Israeli forces remained in the area. [4] Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli occupation army force advanced into the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya shortly after midnight and erected a new earthen barrier near the town square. [4] Zawtar al-Gharbiya was one of two designated pilot zones where the Lebanese army was to take over as part of a US-sponsored framework agreement signed with Israel. [4] Beirut’s army deployed to Zawtar al-Gharbiya on July 21 and roughly 50 families have since returned to the village. [4] Mayor Abed Ezzeddine told AFP they were surprised to see the barrier in the morning, located around 100 metres from the town square. [4] A Lebanese military source told AFP it was a violation of the framework agreement. [4] Lebanon and Israel had just completed their seventh round of direct negotiations in Rome on Thursday. [4] A Lebanese source told AFP the Israelis refused to discuss withdrawing from more areas before making sure Beirut’s military had full control over the pilot zones. [4] The NNA on Saturday reported artillery shelling in southern Lebanon. [4] An Israeli soldier was moderately wounded after being hit by shrapnel from Israeli fire in Tayri village. [3]

Broader regional consequences and calls for intervention

The combined toll on Gaza’s health system and civilian population continues to mount amid daily ceasefire violations and medicine shortages that kill patients at Nasser Hospital. [1] The UN assessment highlights that recovery from trauma and loss will take generations amid blocked dual-use materials, malnutrition and lack of safe water. [1] Parallel pressures on the RSF in Sudan follow battlefield losses in Blue Nile and North Kordofan, prompting Hemedti’s call for a return to Khartoum and escalation in Kordofan. [2] Gaza officials have appealed to the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the UN and rights groups to act on detained medics and humanitarian access. [1] The RSF’s mobilisation campaign risks further deepening the tribal dimensions of a conflict that has already fuelled communal violence, particularly in Darfur. [2] Calls for communities to remain outside the fighting have emerged in parts of Darfur and Kordofan amid concern that continuing mobilisation could draw individual tribes more directly into the conflict. [2]

What to watch next: Continued RSF efforts to translate tribal pledges into trained forces as the army pushes toward Darfur strongholds, alongside further Israeli-Lebanese negotiations over pilot zone control and Gaza health ministry demands for independent medical access to detained staff.