AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org.

As Israel continues its attacks on the Gaza Strip, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says Israel and Hamas are closer than at any time in the past to reach a ceasefire deal. The news has sparked hope among the nearly 2 million Palestinian families and children who have been displaced by Israel’s war and who want nothing more than to rebuild Gaza and return home.

Meanwhile, global pressure persists as human rights advocates, healthcare professionals and others are demanding the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the pediatric Kamal Adwan Hospital in the largest refugee camp in Gaza, Jabaliya. He was detained a few weeks ago, after Israeli forces raided and shut down that last major hospital in northern Gaza. Israel has not confirmed where it’s detaining Dr. Abu Safiya, but there have been reports he’s being held either at the troubled Sde Teiman Israeli prison, which has been plagued by reports of gruesome abuses including torture and sexual violence against Palestinians in custody, or at the Ofer Prison. Dr. Abu Safiya’s son Elias spoke to Al Jazeera Monday about what he knows about his father’s whereabouts and condition.

ELIAS ABU SAFIYA: We had few information, and not official at all, regarding our father. Some of people who have been recently released just say something about my father, and they told that he has been tortured severely by the Israelis and he was transferred to another prison. This morning, the lawyer Yusuf al-Manaama [phon.] told us that he is in Ofer Prison, and there is a visit could be expected sometime this month. The lawyer has not been allowed to visit him for the second successive times. And my father will be there until at least the 13th of February. We have been told that by Dr. Yusuf al-Manaama, the lawyer. Some local and international lawyers have been also involved in this. They are following his case. And they told us, until now, there are no official charges at all, and he has not been investigated ’til now.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Abu Safiya’s son Elias speaking to Al Jazeera about the conditions that his father is being held in.

For more, we go to Chicago, where we’re joined by Dr. John Kahler, a retired pediatrician who has volunteered in Gaza twice since the beginning of last year, collaborated with Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya to establish a feeding center at Kamal Adwan Hospital in last April. He co-founded the medical humanitarian aid group MedGlobal.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Doctor. Thanks so much for joining us. Tell us the latest. At first, it wasn’t clear where Dr. Abu Safiya is. We see these horrifying images of him walking through the rubble as he’s summoned by the Israeli military. Kamal Adwan, the well-known pediatric hospital. Explain what you know at this point.

DR. JOHN KAHLER: Well, I’m sorry to — thank you for having me, first of all. But I’m sorry to say that we really don’t know much more than has been stated. On December 27th, after the third round of attacks on Kamal Adwan, starting back in 2023, after the third round, where the hospital was actually destroyed, Dr. Abu Safiya was taken into custody. It was a horrible picture, but it was also a picture of unbelievable bravery.

We also have — Dr. Abu Safiya would be the first to say that his position is no better than any of the other healthcare workers that have been detained. There’s been 500 healthcare workers that have been killed. There are still at least 250 doctors in detention. We, ourselves, MedGlobal, have eight of our healthcare workers in detention. Dr. Abu Safiya is the most prominent. And obviously, we’re here to talk about him because he is the shining light with regards to all that is good about and noble about our profession in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: So, if you can talk about the global response and the significance of Kamal Adwan? We were speaking with the renowned poet Mosab Abu Toha, who just made it out of Gaza recently.

DR. JOHN KAHLER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: And he talked about how this was the place he would take his children to.

DR. JOHN KAHLER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: And what’s happened to that hospital, and how Dr. Abu Safiya stood up for the medical staff, the people who were being arrested?

DR. JOHN KAHLER: Sure. First, let me talk about the hospital. When we started our project, MedGlobal, in 2019, it was in the form of capacity building and resiliency building, capacity building done by education. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the pediatric hub that would feed the tertiary care hospital, the most significant hospital in Gaza, namely, Shifa. We were in the process of helping train pediatricians, helping train other healthcare personnel, helping staff and supply Shifa. That was the plan.

After October 2023, that plan was no longer operative. Shifa was destroyed. Everyone had to abandon it. Dr. Abu Safiya stood alone in keeping Kamal Adwan Hospital open. His bravery stood out. He kept the hospital open and kept the hospital functioning for pediatrics. And actually, as things moved on into 2024, they needed to expand their services beyond pediatrics, because it became one of the only hospitals serving Jabaliya refugee camp and serving the north. So it didn’t just deal with pediatrics. It actually expanded its services.

AMY GOODMAN: The response to what’s happening to all of these doctors, like Dr. Bursh, who was found naked and dead at one of the prisons, I believe at Ofer Prison, where — it has been mentioned. You heard Dr. Abu Safiya’s son saying he believes he’s at Ofer. That was reported in May?

DR. JOHN KAHLER: Yes, yeah. No one knows for sure. He hasn’t had his moment in court. It’s been delayed at least twice. We are trying, in all of our capacities, to find out not just where he is, but to see him and to hopefully get him released. Any of the hostage deals that are on the table need to deal directly also with the healthcare workers and the other Palestinians, the 9,000 Palestinians that are held as prisoner.

I’d like to say this about Dr. Abu Safiya, though. When I was with him in March, he told me three things. One spoke to his basic humanness, which was that he was very happy that I was there. I brought some minimal supplies. We were permitted to go north. We were one of the first international groups that were permitted to go north. And we brought minimal supplies, those things that we could put into an SUV. But he received them as if they were manna from heaven. He was very sad that we needed to set up a nutrition stabilization center, but very proud and very happy that it would be done at Kamal Adwan Hospital. So there was his basic humanness.

The second thing was that — his just friendship. I was going back in May to spend a month there helping establish the nutrition stabilization. I’m a pediatrician also, so I’d be able to also work in the hospital. So he was very happy that I would be coming back. I would meet his family.

And third, though, and most important for this discussion, is he told me directly that there were two things he would absolutely not do. He would, first of all, not abandon his hospital. And then, second, and even most important to that, he would not abandon his colleagues and/or his patients. And these are acts of bravery and acts of humility. These are the components that all real heroes characterize. And he is — we overuse that term, and we’ve overused it a lot in the past decade. He is a true hero. He’s heroic on the level of Viktor Frankl. He’s heroic on the level of Mandela, Barghouti. All of them manifest these two traits.

AMY GOODMAN: And in the midst of all this, he lost his son, as he remained in Gaza.

DR. JOHN KAHLER: For all of — yes, for all of this, his son was killed. He himself was wounded. He was abducted, arrested. And then, finally, his mom even died. These are things that work to humiliate and remove agency. His bravery is a supreme act of resistance. And what no oppressor will tolerate is that level of resistance. Remember, this was the third time since October ’23 that Kamal Adwan was attacked. He stood alone each time defending it and keeping it open.

Finally, there was direct destruction of the hospital itself. He was called — finally, the doctors were arrested. Patients were removed. The hospital was attacked and pretty much burned. And you see that unbelievable picture of him walking up in his white coat, up a hill of destruction, to a tank waiting for him, and he walking into the tank, greeting his captors. This is a man who has a level of humanity way beyond anything that I could ever hope for, ever wish for. And I —

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Kahler, we want to end this segment —

DR. JOHN KAHLER: I am honored to call him friend.

AMY GOODMAN: We want to end this segment with Dr. Abu Safiya in his own words.

DR. HUSSAM ABU SAFIYA: [translated] I always say the situation requires one to stand by our people’s side and not run away from it. Gaza is our homeland, our mother, our beloved and everything to us. Gaza deserves all of this steadfastness and deserves all of the sacrifices. It is not just about Gaza, but we deserve to be a people that deserves freedom just like every other people on Earth. I think the occupation wants us to get out and for us to ask them to get us out, so they can publicly say that the healthcare system is the one asking to leave and that it wasn’t them who asked us to, but we are aware of that. But we will not leave, God willing, from this place, as I said, for as long as there are humanitarian services to be provided to our people in the northern Gaza Strip.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Dr. Abu Safiya in a video produced by Sotouries. He is now in Israeli custody. People around the world are demanding his release. I want to thank Dr. John Kahler, retired pediatrician, co-founder of MedGlobal, who’s volunteered in Gaza, worked with Dr. Abu Safiya to establish a feeding center at Dr. Abu Safiya’s hospital, the pediatric Kamal Adwan Hospital.

When we come back, the incarcerated firefighters that are fighting the flames in Los Angeles. Stay with us.