The director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital has been subjected to various forms of intense torture and inhumane treatment in an Israeli military prison, his lawyer told Al Jazeera.
The 51-year-old Hussam Abu Safia was detained in Gaza by the Israeli army in December and taken to Sde Teiman military detention camp in Israel’s Negev Desert, before being transferred to Ofer Prison, located near Ramallah.
He was “arrested by force, handcuffed and forced to take off his clothes after being taken from the hospital to one of the army camps”, said Samir al-Mana’ama, a lawyer with the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights who visited him in Ofer Prison on Tuesday.
Al-Mana’ama said that Abu Safia suffers from “an enlarged heart muscle and from high blood pressure” and was beaten up and refused treatment for the heart condition.
Transferred to Ofter Prison on 9 January, he was held in solitary confinement for 25 days and interrogated nonstop by the Israeli army, Israeli intelligence and police, the lawyer added.
“Despite denying all the charges against him, he was beaten with an electric stick by the Israeli army so as to extract a confession from him,” said the lawyer.
There was “no legal justification” for Abu Safia’s arrest, the lawyer said, adding that “any accusation needs evidence and as long as there is no evidence, there is no real complete accusation against Doctor Hussam.”
A lack of medical care combined with the appalling conditions in “very cold prison cells” had “severely affected” the doctor’s health, he said, adding that he was “facing a lot of sufferings in his confinement and detention”.
In a separate statement issued by the lawyer, he said that Abu Safia had been given no access to legal counsel during his 47 days in arbitrary detention.
Abu Safia, who had documented the cruel impact of Israel’s offensive on Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested after refusing multiple military threats to leave the hospital during a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip.
The doctor was reportedly sighted back in December by two released prisoners at Sde Teiman, a controversial facility known for its extreme abuse of detainees.
‘Thousands disappeared’
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman in Jordan, said the doctor was one of hundreds of medical workers taken from Gaza by Israeli forces to the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp and other Israeli military prisons.
“At least his family now knows where he is and that he is alive, unlike potentially thousands of others who the UN said have been forcibly disappeared from Gaza,” she said.
The Prisoners’ Affairs Committee and the Prisoner’s Society issued a report citing the lawyer of a Palestinian detainee who said he had been subjected to severe torture in Israeli detention.
According to the report, the prisoner had been beaten by Israeli soldiers while going from north to the south of Gaza, forced to take off his clothes and left for hours in the cold without food or water. Later, tied up and beaten, with both his hands suffering a fracture.
US president’s latest actions may have caused irreparable damage.
Consistency builds trust. For decades, the United States has been a global superpower. But in a little more than three weeks, President Donald Trump has bewildered friends and bamboozled foes.
So will his second term speed up the emergence of a new world order?
And can the world still trust the US?
Presenter:
James Bays
Guests:
Scott Lucas – professor of US and international politics at University College Dublin
Ibrahim Fraihat – associate professor of conflict resolution at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies
Amid the rubble of destroyed homes and the echoing booms of air strikes, Gaza’s artists sit with brushes in hand, transforming despair into defiance. Flour bags become canvases, humanitarian aid boxes are turned into portraits and every paint stroke tells a story.
For more than 76 years, Israel’s occupation has posed a threat to Palestinian culture through displacement and destruction. But even in the face of the current war, in which Israel has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, Gaza’s artists refuse to disappear.
And some of the enclave’s artists have managed to turn pain into hope while portraying the harsh realities of war and displacement. With limited resources, they keep producing, saying their art reflects a will to survive.
The cultural devastation in Gaza includes the destruction of dozens of cultural centres, museums and artefacts, including ancient pottery and manuscripts. The ceasefire, which began on January 19, has provided a respite, but experts believe the full extent of the damage is unknown.
In the most recent official report on the situation, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Culture said in March that 45 writers and artists had been killed in Gaza since the conflict erupted on October 7, 2023 and 32 cultural centres and 12 museums had been destroyed. The numbers are now likely far higher.
Among those killed is artist Mahasen al-Khateeb, who died in October in an Israeli air strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. She was killed with her entire family.
Once a vibrant hub for artists and creatives, the Shababeek art gallery now lies in ruins after Israeli air strikes [Courtesy of Ibrahim Mahna]
Attempt to ‘erase’ Palestinian culture
While the Israeli military has consistently claimed that its operations focus on fighters involved in attacks on Israel, Gaza artists and art experts contend that Israel is intent on wiping out Palestinian culture.
Israel has “destroyed historical sites and ancient landmarks, erasing thousands of years of cultural heritage in Gaza”, said Sobhi Qouta, a visual artist and lecturer at Al-Aqsa University who also coordinates the Visual Arts Club at the Abdel Mohsin Al-Qattan Foundation. “Many Palestinian artists also lost their works whether through the bombing of their homes or the destruction of cultural centres housing these pieces.”
Palestinian art traces its roots to Byzantine influences and evolved through Islamic traditions. Post-1967 when Israel began occupying Gaza, art became a powerful tool of resistance with artists like Kamal Boullata and Suleiman Mansour using their work to assert Palestinian identity amid occupation.
Art education was incorporated into Gaza’s academic landscape in the mid-1990s with Al-Aqsa University’s fine arts programme. The artistic scene grew rapidly, boosted by the Eltiqa Group for Contemporary Art’s 2002 launch as Gaza’s first modern art space and followed by Shababeek For Contemporary Art in 2009. Despite conflict and the blockade of Gaza by Israel, Gaza’s art community thrived. But all major art spaces – Eltiqa, Shababeek, and Al-Aqsa – have been destroyed by Israel in the war.
Ibrahim Mahna’s makeshift studio survives in his damaged home, which was hit by an Israeli tank shell [Courtesy of Ibrahim Mahna]
Silent testimonies of struggle
Hussein al-Jerjawi, 18, endured displacement five times because of the war. And the conflict cost him an entire academic year.
The war profoundly influenced his artistic journey, and he turned to an unconventional medium: humanitarian flour bags as canvases. His paintings on the symbols of survival in a besieged land show cracks, fissures and other symbols that reflect the fractured existence of those in Gaza.
“When I paint on a flour bag, it feels as if I’m writing our history with a brush dipped in suffering and resilience,” al-Jerjawi said.
The choice of aid bags is a natural response to the scarcity of traditional art supplies in Gaza, al-Jerjawi said.
“In a refugee tent, surrounded by empty UNRWA flour bags, I decided to paint on them to capture the pain of war and my story of displacement,” he said, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the main aid agency for Palestinians.
Despite the war, al-Jerjawi participated in art exhibitions and workshops, including stints as a visual artist with the Qattan Foundation and at Shababeek. One of his paintings was showcased in the occupied West Bank at the Qattan Gallery, run by the Qattan Foundation, which has been instrumental in nurturing Gaza’s artistic community, supporting children in disciplines such as drawing, theatre and singing.
“Even after losing so much, my art remains my defiance,” he said.
Describing one of his paintings, al-Jerjawi said “bags of flour silently witness the stories of the displaced, waiting for survival. With printed words emphasising a frozen human condition, the raised, clenched hands – some gripping flour, others empty – speak to the desperate search for hope.”
He added that “the faces are stories of fatigue and hunger. The eyes ask not just for bread but for dignity. The faded crowd in the background, like shadows, waits in an endless line.”
Al-Jerjawi views his art as a defence of Palestinian identity.
“The occupation seeks to erase our culture and identity. But art preserves our memory. Every painting I create is a document, telling the world that we are alive, we dream and we hold onto our roots.”
Artist Hussein al-Jerjawi works in his temporary studio, repurposing discarded UNRWA flour bags as canvases to document life under siege [Asem al-Jerjawi/Al Jazeera]
Transforming pain into art
Ibrahim Mahna, 19, another Palestinian artist, has transformed humanitarian aid boxes that were used to package food and other essentials into works of art that he said embody the pain and resilience of families displaced by war.
“These boxes are not just food containers. They have become symbols of the dire social conditions we face today while also reflecting our tenacity to resist and ability to endure,” Mahna said.
Mahna started using the aid boxes when traditional art supplies became inaccessible due to the war.
From the rough surface of one of his box paintings, images of hollow-eyed faces emerge, silently screaming. Behind them, tents rise in a barren landscape flanked by palm trees.
“These faces are my people,” Mahna said.
His work often depicts tents and figures spanning generations, reflecting the suffering of Palestinians who have lost everything.
“The tents have become all they have left – a fragile shelter that offers no protection from the harshness of nature or the weight of their tragedy,” Mahna said.“The suffering of displaced individuals in these tents inspires me to create more paintings that document their daily struggles, ensuring their stories remain a testament to their existence.”
He pointed to a woman in the centre of one of his paintings, her strong but weary face embodying Palestinian motherhood.
“Behind her are men and children scarred by war and poverty. These faces symbolise a people who refuse to be erased,” Mahna said.
For Mahna, art is resistance and identity: “The occupation doesn’t just take our land. It tries to erase us. Painting on aid boxes lets me reclaim our story.”
Qouta said there is no doubt that the Israeli occupation has heavily targeted Palestinian art and culture.
Even though Mahna and al-Jerjawi managed to keep on producing, Qouta said the war left many “artists unable to create due to psychological trauma”.
He added: “Many have had to focus on supporting their families and finding safety.”
Palestinian children immerse themselves in an art workshop led by Ibrahim Mohana in Gaza, where art has provided a refuge from the harsh realities of the war [Courtesy of Ibrahim Mahna]
The US secretary of defense has signalled a major shift in Washington’s approach to the war in Ukraine during his first meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.
Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth was speaking on Wednesday at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, where he outlined a hardline pivot in US policy following four years of former US President Joe Biden, while maintaining that ending the conflict in Ukraine remained “a top priority”.
He spoke shortly before US Presdient Donald Trump announced he had held his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking office.
“Our message is clear: The bloodshed must stop and this war must end,” Hegseth said in an address to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which includes all 32 members of NATO as well as other backers of Kyiv.
However, he added, “We will only end this devastating war – and establish a durable peace – by coupling allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.”
That means, he continued, Ukraine must abandon its “illusionary goal” of a return to its pre-2014 borders, referring to the year when Russia seized the Ukrainian territories of Crimea and Donbas.
The war-torn country must prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia, potentially backed by a non-NATO international force, Hegseth said.
He added that Ukraine’s long-sought membership in NATO – which Kyiv has called essential to its long-term security – was not “realistic”.
The statements were the clearest articulation yet of how the administration of US President Donald Trump would approach the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Trump has repeatedly promised to bring a speedy end to the conflict, which has stoked concerns that Kyiv could be pressured to accept hefty concessions, including the loss of its Russian-occupied territories.
The US president has also been a vocal critic of NATO, threatening US withdrawal while repeatedly calling on members of the bloc to increase their defence spending.
Reporting from Brussels, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said that attendees at Wednesday’s meeting had been anxiously awaiting for Hegseth to “provide some more details about the United States’s commitment to Ukraine in the coming weeks and months”.
However, “[It was] a departure from what NATO and the Europeans were looking forward to hearing from the Americans today,” he said.
“Hegseth has said very clearly today that from now onwards, the Europeans have to understand that given the stark geopolitical developments globally, the Americans won’t be primarily focused on Europe’s security,” Ahelbarra added.
“There are other challenges , and on top of that agenda is China’s growing economic and military clout globally, which the Americans would like to counter.”
Europeans must provide ‘overwhelming share’
As part of the wider US shift in policy, Hegseth said European countries “must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine”.
Over nearly three years, about 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126bn in weapons and military assistance. The US provided about $64bn of that under the Biden administration.
Hegseth also repeated Trump’s claim that NATO members must boost their defence spending, echoing a call to increase the allocation to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), far beyond the 2 percent they had already committed to.
That rate is likely impossible for most countries to meet, Ahelbarra reported, given most European countries “are still struggling to get to 2 percent”.
The Pentagon chief also offered a new vision for Ukraine’s long-term security, which he said should not include Ukraine eventually joining NATO.
The Biden administration had supported in principle Ukraine joining the bloc if certain reforms were met, despite concerns that such a move could draw the alliance into a wider war.
Under Article Five of NATO, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all members and triggers a joint military response.
Hegseth said that “any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops”, not supported by Article 5 protections.
Any troop deployment in Ukraine, he added, must be “part of a non-NATO mission”.
“To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” he said.
Hegseth spoke shortly before Trump on Wednesday announced he had held his first call with Putin.
“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said in a social media post, adding that he was confident that negotiations to end the war would be successful.
The two leaders agreed to visit each other’s countires, he added.
US President Donald Trump’s comments on ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Gaza and forcing them into Egypt and Jordan could lead to a radical reshaping of regional alliances, analysts tell Al Jazeera.
Trump repeated his intentions after meeting with King Abdullah II on Tuesday. He had previously indicated that he would use US aid to both countries as leverage to try to force them to go along with his idea.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II seemed to attempt to placate Trump by flattering him and making a pledge to accept 2,000 sick children from Gaza into Jordan.
“I finally see somebody that can take us across the finish line to bring stability, peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” the Hashemite monarch told Trump. Trump called the line “music to my ears”.
Cairo and Amman have both fervently rejected Trump’s comments on numerous occasions and Egypt will host an emergency Arab Summit on February 27 to form an Arab-led plan to counter Trump’s broadly sketched plan.
King Abdullah offered to receive 2,000 sick children from Gaza. [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
Billions in aid
Both Egypt and Jordan have relied heavily on US foreign aid for decades.
Egypt has received more than $87bn in US foreign aid since 1946, though military and economic assistance increased significantly after Egypt signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979.
The current $1.4bn in annual military aid that the US gives Egypt started in 1979 after the Camp David Accords were signed between Egypt and Israel.
Today, Egypt is one of the highest recipients of US foreign aid in the Middle East after Israel.
US foreign aid also plays a significant role in Jordan.
Israel and Jordan signed the Wadi Araba Treaty in 1994, establishing diplomatic, tourism and trade relations between the two countries that laid the groundwork for Jordan to receive billions of dollars in US aid as debt relief.
The US now gives Jordan $1.72bn a year in bilateral foreign assistance.
Jordan is reeling from cuts of $770m in economic aid from USAID, which helped fund some Jordanian ministries, like Education and Public Works, and supported the country’s water security.
This funding is a major part of making Egypt and Jordan’s economies function, but it also helps the US’s regional agenda.
Jordan “has long served as a pro-West partner and continues to play a stabilising role, buffering Israel from Iran and its proxies, hosting refugees, combatting terrorism and extremism and serving as a strong and reliable ally to Western powers,” Dima Toukan, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera.
(Al Jazeera)
Egypt offers the US facilitations in the region, “including the movement of US military assets across the region through preferential passage of the Suez Canal and overflights of Egypt’s territory”, according to an Egyptian government-sponsored article in Foreign Policy.
All US military aid finances Egypt’s purchase of weapons systems from US defence contractors, according to a congressional report, making military aid to Egypt an indirect form of subsidy for US defence contractors.
“As a main lever of soft power, aid allows the US a significant margin to exercise influence, manage its image and cultivate common interest,” Toukan said.
Big hole in the budget
The prospect of Trump forcing through his plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza evokes stability concerns in Egypt, according to analysts.
For Jordan, those fears are “existential” the analysts said. Much of Jordan’s population is already of Palestinian origin and for Jordan to take in another million would deeply affect demographics and questions of national identity for many in the country.
To avoid being forced into it, Egypt and Jordan might start to look elsewhere for funding, like their allies in the Gulf or even US competitors for global influence – like Russia and China.
“If the US insists on withdrawing aid, other groups and countries will certainly want to fill this gap,” Toukan told Al Jazeera.
(Al Jazeera)
China’s influence in Egypt has grown in the last decade and 2025 has been called the “Year of Egyptian-Chinese Partnership” by the two states.
GCC states – who oppose Trump’s ethnic cleansing suggestion and who enjoy close relations with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s President Abdelfattah el-Sisi – may also decide that filling in the funding gaps is in their interests.
But even if that were the case, it is unlikely the billion-dollar hole in their coffers will be fully covered, possibly forcing them to “implement deeply unpopular austerity measures that predictably lead to protests,” Geoffrey Hughes, author of the book, Kinship, Islam and the Politics of Marriage in Jordan: Affection and Mercy, told Al Jazeera.
“It will also directly hit the security apparatus and all the harder since so much aid is routed through the military and police now.”
The Jordanians receive $1.7bn in US aid but accepting displaced Palestinians from Gaza would be existential’ [Jehad Shelbak/Reuters]
