Interfaith Peace Working Group

Immediate Action Needed: Palestinian Physician Tortured for over 550 Days, Imminent Risk of Death.

"This is the last time you will see me… They brought me here to kill me."
— Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, to his lawyer, July 2, 2026

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the Palestinian pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, has been detained by Israel for over 557 days without charge or trial. On June 16, 2026, Israel's Supreme Court rejected his appeal for release.

On July 2, his lawyer visited him in an underground section of Nitzan Prison and found him barely recognizable: shackled, covered in fresh bruises and torture marks, struggling to breathe, on the verge of losing consciousness. His son says he described being beaten with a hammer. Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Amnesty International warn his life is in immediate danger. UN experts have demanded his release after reports of "severe torture."

His only "crime" was staying with his patients — "a doctor whose only weapon is a stethoscope." He is one of hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers detained without charge, in grave violation of international law.

This is an emergency. We demand his immediate release, an independent medical evaluation, and access to legal counsel and the Red Cross.
Public pressure can save his life.
Click here to sign a letter to your US Senators and Representatives:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/immediate-action-needed-palestinian-physician-tortured-for-557-days-imminent-risk-of-death?source=email&

If you have time and the desire, you can also follow-up this letter with a phone call to their offices. You can reach both Senators Baldwin and Johnson at the Senate Office Building,
202-224-3121

Thank you for your advocacy!

From Building Unity...
Thanks to all who have come out to support the "Fight For Our Lives Democracy Tour" in all the ways that you have. We have enjoyed great connections in Milwaukee, Madison, Mt. Horeb, Dodgeville (and Mineral Point), and Hazel Green.

At each stop we are listening and recording the stories and views of people who care about our world. We are creating a documentary about how Wisconsin is rising up and meeting this moment with love and commitment to justice and democracy.

Check out our tour schedule and help us fill it out with stops when we are in your part of the state.

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/buildingunitywi/
or instagram: www.instagram.com/buildingunitywisconsin/
or go to our websites: buildingunitywisconsin.org and fightforourtlivestour.org

We hold a Monday Evening Zoom Meeting each week @ 7:30 pm - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/99245031795
Please feel free to drop in.

Please share the position announcement for ELCA Hunger Advocacy Fellow, a one-year appointment to work with LOPPW in the Madison office (hybrid position):
https://recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/Jobs/Details/4243424

If 7-month-old Sam Abu Haikal had lived, he would have likely played on swings at his kindergarten in the Palestinian city of Al Khalil/Hebron that were provided with help and love from the citizens of Madison, Wisconsin.

Instead, on June 5, Sam was killed by Israeli soldiers who shot at a car carrying him and his family as it slowed to a stop in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. Sam was in the backseat in his mother Dania's arms when a soldier's bullet struck him in the head, also wounding his mother and his father, Fahd.
Read more here...
https://captimes.com/opinion/guest-columns/opinion-the-killing-of-baby-sam-broken-hearts-are-not-enough/article_5b52d533-02b8-4d22-a208-b72e9c2e7893.html?shem=rimspwouohc,,rimspwouohc,