In the US: write to Congress
Ask your two Senators and your Representative to call publicly for the release of Dr. Rantisi and Dr. Abu Safiya. The IMEU Policy Project letter sends it for you.
Latest
Detained without stated reason
FreeDr. Mazen Rantisi
For decades he treated patients who could not pay, in Ramallah and the villages around it. On 21 June 2026, Israeli forces arrested the 71-year-old physician in a pre-dawn raid on his home. His family says he is being denied the medicine he needs.
Day —in detention · since 21 June 2026
Dr. Mazen Rantisi has been released. Thank you to everyone who spoke up.
A campaign by his family
Who he is
The doctor of the poor
Mazen Rantisi studied medicine in Bulgaria. Back in Palestine he worked as the campus doctor at Birzeit University, then began visiting villages around Ramallah that had no medical centre at all.
At his own clinic he charged 25 shekels (about $8) for a check-up, later 40, when the usual price was 100. Patients who had little paid nothing. Some paid in olives, cucumbers or home-made pickles, and he accepted.
When a patient could not afford their medicine, he wrote a special note on the prescription that only the pharmacist understood. Later he went to the pharmacy and paid for it himself.
“Sometimes he received calls late in the night to go treat a patient in some village, and he would go.”
Safwat Tahboub, lifelong friend
He is described as a community figure with no history of political activity. Since the 1990s he ran a primary-care centre for the Union of Health Work Committees, and about three years ago its board asked him to be its chair.
What happened
A timeline, with sources
The Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC) is founded: a Palestinian non-profit running clinics that serve thousands of patients a year, mostly in rural communities with little access to care.
The GuardianDr. Rantisi begins running a UHWC primary-care centre, especially for low-income Palestinians, alongside his own low-fee clinic.
MondoweissThe Israeli military declares the UHWC an “unlawful association” under emergency regulations dating back to the British Mandate. It remains legally registered with the Palestinian Authority’s interior ministry.
The GuardianIsrael designates six Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist” organisations, including al-Haq, Addameer and Defense for Children International–Palestine. A European Union audit later calls Israel’s claims “baseless”.
MondoweissIsraeli forces raid the Ramallah offices of the six NGOs and the UHWC, which is added as a seventh. The doors are welded shut and the UHWC headquarters in Al-Bireh is closed.
The GuardianMondoweissThe UHWC asks Dr. Rantisi, by then one of the West Bank’s best-known doctors, to chair its board.
MondoweissBefore dawn, Israeli forces raid his home in the al-Tireh neighbourhood of Ramallah and arrest him. He is taken to the police station in the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, believed to be questioned by the Special Investigations Unit. The authorities do not say why he is held, or where.
The GuardianMondoweissThe Guardian reports the arrest. Physicians for Human Rights Israel condemns it as an attack on essential civil and humanitarian work. Asked by the Guardian, the Israeli military and the Israel Prison Service each refer questions to the other.
The GuardianIn the UK Parliament, Early Day Motion 461 calls on the government to protest the arrest and seek his immediate release. It is signed by 44 MPs.
UK ParliamentHaaretz reports, from his statements to a lawyer of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, that he is held in inhumane conditions with food deprivation and medical neglect. He is reported to face charges for heading the UHWC board.
MondoweissHe is still detained. Day —.
In detention
What he has described
As told by Dr. Rantisi to his lawyer and relayed by his daughter, Sylvia, to Mondoweiss.
- For the first three days he did not eat. His first meal was a tomato, a half-cooked egg and a piece of bread.
- Guards took the detainees’ mattresses every day, sprayed them with water and returned them soaking wet.
- At four headcounts a day, detainees were made to kneel with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
- During cell searches guards beat detainees. Younger detainees tried to protect him with their own bodies.
- He lives with several chronic illnesses. His family says he has been denied his medication; at court his daughter saw he had lost a lot of weight.
- Family visits to Palestinian detainees have been banned since October 2023. His family can see him only in court.
Why it matters
Not just one doctor
The arrest is believed to be connected to his role as chair of the UHWC, an organisation that runs clinics for people who have nowhere else to go. Israel outlawed it, but leaked Israeli intelligence files showed no evidence for the claims made against the targeted NGOs, an EU audit called them “baseless”, and a CIA review reportedly found no evidence either.
Amnesty International and others describe the targeting of these organisations as an attempt to fracture Palestinian civil society. His clinic in Ramallah serves hundreds of patients; his detention cuts them off from care.
He is not alone. Fourteen other doctors from Gaza are held without charge, and Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been held for more than 500 days.
Voices
What people who know him say
“The reason my father was arrested is precisely that he is one of the people who inspire hope in society and help it stay resilient.”
Sylvia Rantisi, his daughter
“A sensitive man with deep human values and social empathy.”
Safwat Tahboub, lifelong friend
“By detaining a respected physician and the head of a leading Palestinian health organisation, the Israeli authorities are further blurring the line between legitimate security measures and the criminalisation of essential civil and humanitarian work.”
Naji Abbas, Physicians for Human Rights Israel
“His arrest is not just about one doctor. It reflects a broader effort to undermine Palestinian civil institutions and intimidate those working to serve their communities under occupation.”
Physicians for Human Rights Israel
Quotes translated from the original English or Arabic.
The context
The numbers around his case
9,446Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, March 2026
4,691of them in administrative detention: no charge, no trial
1,100+Palestinian civilians killed in the West Bank since 2020, at least a quarter of them children. No one charged.
14other doctors from Gaza detained without charge
44UK MPs who signed Early Day Motion 461
35,977letters sent to the US Congress for him and Dr. Abu Safiya
Sources: B’Tselem; UN OCHA; The Guardian; UK Parliament; IMEU Policy Project.
Take action
Every voice adds pressure
Governments act when their own citizens ask them to. It takes two minutes.
In the UK: ask your MP to sign EDM 461
Check whether your MP has signed. If not, email them the letter below and ask them to sign and to raise his case with the Foreign Office.
Anywhere: write to your own representatives
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Support the family’s campaign
Funds go towards legal support and keeping his case in the public eye.
Press
In the press, and for the press
Media and family contact
press@freedrmazen.com
Sources
The Guardian · “Israeli forces arrest Palestinian ‘doctor of the poor’” · Lorenzo Tondo · 25 June 2026
Read ↗Mondoweiss · “Israel’s arrest of Ramallah’s ‘doctor of the poor’ shows Palestinians that no one is safe” · Palestine Bureau · 12 August 2026
Read ↗UK Parliament · Early Day Motion 461: Arrest of Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi and Israeli action against Palestinian civil society · tabled 29 June 2026
Read ↗IMEU Policy Project · Message your Members of Congress: Free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and Dr. Mazen Rantisi
Read ↗
Also cited in these reports: Haaretz (Amira Hass), B’Tselem, UN OCHA, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.
Questions
Good questions
Has he been charged with anything?
At the time of his arrest, Israeli authorities did not say why he was detained. Later reports say he faces charges for heading the board of the Union of Health Work Committees, a health organisation Israel outlawed.
What is the Union of Health Work Committees?
A Palestinian non-profit founded in 1985 that runs clinics serving thousands of patients a year, many in rural areas. Israel declared it unlawful in 2020 and closed its headquarters in 2022. It remains registered with the Palestinian Authority.
Was he politically active?
He is described as a community figure with no history of political activity. His family says this is the first time they have faced an arrest.
Can his family visit him?
No. Family visits to Palestinian detainees have been banned since October 2023. His daughter has only been able to see him at court hearings.
What is administrative detention?
Imprisonment without charge or trial, based on secret evidence, renewable indefinitely. As of March 2026, 4,691 Palestinians were held this way, according to B’Tselem.
Who runs this site?
The family of Dr. Mazen Rantisi, with friends and supporters. Every fact here links to a published source.
Free Dr. Mazen Rantisi
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