Trade unions in Ireland have urged the Irish Government to use all available diplomatic channels to secure the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian medic who has been held without charge since December 2024.
Dr Abu Safiya is a consultant paediatrician and former Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He was detained by the Israel Defence Forces during a raid on the hospital in December 2024, and has since been held without charge under Israel's Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law.
His detention has been condemned by leading human rights organisations. In March 2026, UN experts called for his release amid reports of “severe torture”, and this week the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that his detention breaches international human rights law. In recent days, his lawyer has warned that his life is in immediate danger and that he is now in a critical condition.
Irish trade unions, who represent hundreds of thousands of healthcare sector workers, have said the ongoing detention and abuse of a medical professional simply for doing his job is unacceptable, and that the Irish Government must use all available diplomatic channels to secure the release of Dr Abu Safiya.
Commenting, Congress President Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
The targeting of medical and humanitarian personnel is an egregious breach of international humanitarian law. No one should face persecution simply for helping others. Dr Abu Safiya has now been detained for more than eighteen months, and despite the so-called ceasefire, is reported to have been subject to torture.
Trade unions in Ireland represent many thousands of healthcare workers across this country, and those members have expressed to us their revulsion at the treatment of Dr Abu Safiya. With Ireland holding the EU Presidency, the Government must use all available diplomatic channels to press for his release.
This is now a matter of extreme urgency. In recent days, Dr Abu Safiya’s own lawyer has warned that his life is in immediate danger, and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that his detention breaches international human rights law. Ireland cannot stand by while a doctor who did nothing more than refuse to abandon his patients is at risk of dying in detention.
