Who is Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Al-Shifa Hospital and in Israel's crosshairs?

With tears of joy and sadness, Palestinian doctor Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, embraced his mother, relatives and loved ones after his release from Israeli prisons following seven months of detention and continual torture.

On Monday, Abu Selmia was released with more than 50 Palestinians through the crossing of Kerem Shalom in the southern parts of the war-torn besieged coastal enclave, according to Gaza-based security sources. 

Once the Palestinian prisoners, including Abu Selmiya, arrived further into Gaza, they were transferred to the hospitals of Al-Aqsa and Nasser in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis for medical examination, sources told The New Arab. 

"Palestinian prisoners are subjected to the most severe types of torture all the time [...] some of them died; others lost their limbs," Abu Selmia told reporters in a press conference held in Naser hospital. 

"Because of the lack of food and care, the prisoners have lost about 30 kilograms of their weight [...] The prisoners are living in tragic conditions that have not occurred in the history of the Palestinian people since the Nakba of 1948," added Abu Selmia, who appeared clearly to have lost a significant amount of weight.  

Abu Selmia called on the international community to take a decisive position regarding what he described as "inhumane Israeli measures against Palestinian prisoners."

On 23 November, the Israeli army arrested Abu Selmia with several medical staff, while they were heading through Salah al-Din Street east of Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip after the Israeli army attacked Al-Shifa Hospital at that time.

Who is Mohammed Abu Selmia?

Abu Selmia is a Palestinian paediatrician, born in the Al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City in 1973. He assumed the position of medical director of Al-Nasr Hospital in 2007, took over the management of Al-Rantisi Hospital in 2015, and then became director of Al-Shifa Hospital in 2019 until his arrest on November 23, 2023.

The 51-year-old father of four studied in the schools of Al-Shati camp and obtained a high school diploma in 1991 from Al-Karmel School in the Gaza Strip, and was one of the distinguished and outstanding students, according to his relatives. 

He studied medicine in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, at the Bogomolets National Medical University, specialising in paediatrics, then returned to the Gaza Strip in 1998. He obtained the Palestinian Board in Paediatrics in 2013.

Since his graduation, he worked in several of the most important hospitals in the Gaza Strip. 

In 2000, he began working as a doctor at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis until 2004. He subsequently worked at Al-Nasr Children's Hospital until 2013 and assumed the position of medical director of the same hospital in 2007.

In 2015, he took over the management of Al-Rantisi Children's Hospital and in late July 2019, he became director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the largest medical institution in the Gaza Strip.

He assumed the position of Deputy Head of the Doctors Syndicate in Gaza for the southern governorates, before being appointed director of Al-Shifa Hospital.

According to Palestinian medical sources, Abu Selmia worked on developing and reviving Al-Shifa Hospital, first by renovating the old maternity building in the hospital before the Israeli occupation's aggression on the Strip in 2023.

The new emergency department was opened on July 10, 2023, which became the largest department in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem, and included 62 beds, in addition to 10 intensive care beds. He also worked on developing the medical, nursing, and administrative cadres working in this department.

A Palestinian National Icon

Since the beginning of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, Abu Selmia assumed a major media role after most journalists were forced to flee Al-Shifa Hospital following the Israeli army's storming of it.

Around the clock, Abu Selmia insisted on informing the world about the inhumane conditions caused by the Israeli army in the hospital and its massacres against civilians and medical personnel in the medical complex.

Local Palestinian journalists told TNA that Abu Selmia never hesitated to provide them with the latest statistics, which made him a major media source for all media channels.

Israel's release of Abu Selmia renewed successive accusations against Israel of "torturing prisoners" and the inhumane conditions facing Palestinians Israel holds in its prisons.

Abu Selmia's release also sparked a storm in Israel; as officials disavowed responsibility for making the decision, especially after he accused them (the Israelis), upon his arrival in Gaza, of practising "all forms of torture against civilian detainees", reinforcing previous accusations.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the release of Abu Selmia as a "serious mistake". He said in press statements that the decision was taken without informing the "political leadership," stressing that "this man responsible for killing our hostages and holding them belongs in prison."

Meanwhile, the far-right, fundamentalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said via the "X" platform that "releasing the director of Al-Shifa Medical Hospital in Gaza, along with dozens of other terrorists, is a concession to security."

In turn, the internal security service "Shin Bet" said in a press statement that it was tasked, along with the Israeli army, with "releasing dozens of prisoners in order to provide space in the Sde Teiman detention centre" designated to hold the detainees for short periods.

"In light of the national need identified by the National Security Council, it was decided to release a number of detainees from Gaza who are less dangerous, after a broad assessment of the risks among all detainees," the Shin Bet added. 

Palestinian sources who preferred not to be named said that "Israeli disagreements over the release of Abu Selmia may push the Israelis to decide to assassinate him and his family, similar to the doctors killed by Israel."

The sources believe that Israel fears that Abu Selmia will become a significant witness to prosecute crimes of its army in the Gaza Strip and inside its prisons.