MSF Chief Urges World Medical Association to Demand Release of Detained Palestinian Medics

The international president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called on the World Medical Association to use its general assembly in Rotterdam this week to demand the release of Palestinian healthcare workers held in Israeli custody, arguing that the fate of detained doctors and nurses should serve as a test of whether the global body of medical ethics still stands by its own principles.

Writing in an opinion piece published by Al Jazeera, Javid Abdelmoneim said delegates gathering for the WMA General Assembly have a duty to uphold their commitment to protecting healthcare workers everywhere. He framed the treatment of Palestinian medical staff not as an abstract debating point, but as a concrete measure of whether the association's stated values are applied consistently regardless of geography or political alliances.

Abdelmoneim noted that the WMA had already acknowledged the gravity of the issue by adopting a resolution last year on the protection of healthcare in conflict, describing it as an important step and a welcome reaffirmation of medical neutrality. The challenge now, he wrote, is to translate that resolution into action by securing the explicit support of every member medical association and mobilising their influence to press governments to respond.

At the centre of the appeal is Dr Hussam Abu Safia, a paediatrician who headed Kamal Adwan Hospital, described as the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza until Israeli forces stormed it in December 2024. According to the article, Abu Safia has now been held for more than 22 months without charge under Israel's Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, which permits indefinite detention.

The MSF president said Abu Safia reportedly continues to endure prolonged solitary confinement, beatings, severe weight loss and untreated pre-existing medical conditions. He added that an international petition calling for the doctor's release has gathered the signatures of more than 970 medical professionals from 41 countries, evidence of the breadth of concern within the global health community.

The article also names Dr Mazen al-Rantisi, a 71-year-old family physician from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank known as the "doctor of the poor", who was arrested in June during a predawn raid on his home. His case illustrates, according to the author, that detentions of medical personnel are not confined to Gaza but extend to the West Bank as well.

A third case highlighted is that of Dr Mohammed Hassan Ali Obeid, a 43-year-old Palestinian orthopaedic surgeon and father of three who is described as a longtime MSF colleague. He has reportedly been held under the Unlawful Combatants Law in Israel for more than 600 days without charge. The author noted that while some detained health workers have been released, more than 80 remain in Israeli custody, alongside at least a dozen others arrested in the West Bank.

Beyond individual detentions, the piece cites figures from the World Health Organization recording 1,000 attacks on healthcare in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths and 1,700 injuries. It states that roughly 90 percent of Gaza's health infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged, and recalls that in August 2025 United Nations experts described the systematic destruction of the health system as "medicide".

In the West Bank, where the author stresses that no wartime emergency provides cover for such actions, the WHO has also documented more than 1,000 attacks on healthcare since October 7, 2023, with 42 deaths and at least 218 injuries. The article describes ambulances being stopped at checkpoints and their crews taken away, medics trying to reach people injured in settler attacks being obstructed, and dialysis and oncology patients staying home because checkpoints make the journey to treatment impossible.

Healthcare workers have been shot, detained and killed during Israeli military raids, according to the account, which characterises these developments as part of a deliberate and systematic effort to dismantle Palestinians' capacity to provide care. The author links this to what he describes as a clear and blatant disregard for Palestinian life.

Against this backdrop, Abdelmoneim sets out specific demands for the WMA Assembly. He urges the association to speak plainly about the situation and to call publicly for the release of detained Palestinian doctors, naming Abu Safia, al-Rantisi and Obeid among those whose cases should be raised. He also calls for independent access to those still being held, so that their condition can be verified by outside observers.

In addition, the MSF president asks the assembly to support independent investigations into attacks on healthcare in both Gaza and the West Bank, with findings made public regardless of where they lead. He presents the Rotterdam gathering as an opportunity to collectively pressure fellow medical associations, political authorities and other relevant bodies to take concrete action rather than simply restating principles.

The appeal culminates in a pointed formulation of the ethical stakes: healthcare workers are not targets, and either a white coat is worth protecting everywhere or it is protected nowhere. For Abdelmoneim, the test facing WMA members is not whether they affirm these commitments in words, but whether they uphold them at the moment when doing so matters most.

The opinion piece reflects long-running concerns among international medical organisations about the safety of health personnel in conflict zones, and about the legal frameworks under which some are detained. It also comes amid persistent scrutiny of the toll on Gaza's medical system and of access restrictions facing patients and caregivers in the West Bank.

The World Medical Association's general assembly in Rotterdam therefore faces a decision that, in the author's view, will resonate well beyond the meeting hall. How delegates respond to the cases of Abu Safia, al-Rantisi and Obeid, and to the wider pattern of attacks and detentions documented by the WHO, will signal whether the protection of healthcare workers remains a universal commitment or one that bends according to political circumstance.

The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance. The piece was published on October 5, 2026, as the WMA General Assembly convened in the Dutch city.