Israel pushes back on growing calls to free Gaza terror doctor

For weeks, Hussam Abu Safiya has been portrayed as a wrongly imprisoned Gaza doctor, “the voice of besieged healthcare workers,” when he is, in fact, a Hamas colonel.

This has not stopped Abu Safiya from becoming the latest cause célèbre among anti-Israel NGOs and politicians, who have joined forces demanding his release from Israeli custody.

The campaign gained steam after Abu Safiya appeared in Israeli court via video link on July 8, and an accusation by his attorney, Nasser Odeh, who after visiting Abu Safiya in prison on July 2, claimed that his client undergoes daily torture.

Odeh said Abu Safiya had been beaten all over his body with a hammer and clubs, though there were no signs of such abuse on his head or arms, which were visible during his court appearance.

The claims of torture led to demands last week from Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (of which Odeh is a member), the U.N. Human Rights Council, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Abu Safiya’s immediate release.

Their calls have been amplified in the press by such outlets as CNN, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera, among others.

Israel arrested Abu Safiya on Dec. 27, 2024, and has held him under its Unlawful Combatants Law. Abu Safiya served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The hospital itself is named after a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist.

Israeli forces entered the hospital when it became clear it served as a Hamas terror center. An Israeli investigator told Israel’s Channel 12 in Jan. 2025, less than a week after the operation: “More than 240 terrorists with blood on their hands were located at the scene. At least 15 of them infiltrated into Israel on Oct. 7, [2023,] and participated in the massacre.”

Abu Safiya, who has been a voice for Hamas propaganda abroad, including in The New York Times, was taken into custody during the operation. He told an investigator, “You won’t arrest me. I’m known in the world and everyone knows me. I’m a symbol.”

“A symbol of terrorism,” the investigator responded.

In a July 10 statement, Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations and International Organizations in Geneva, responding to the international criticism, reiterated that Abu Safiya used his position at the hospital to engage in terrorist activity.

“He enabled Hamas terrorist activity against Israeli forces during IDF operations in Gaza, posing a direct threat to Israel’s national security,” according to the statement.

Under his directorship, the hospital became a Hamas terror hub. He exploited his position to redirect humanitarian aid for terrorist purposes, it said.

Worth noting is that Abu Safiya was not included in any of the prisoner release deals given the severity of the actions attributed to him, Ynet reported on July 8.

Israel’s Geneva mission also pushed back on Abu Safiya’s claims of deteriorating health, saying, “At no stage of his detention has he exhibited any indication of a life-threatening condition.”

“He remains under continuous medical supervision and receives treatment in accordance with the professional determination of medical personnel,” it said.

Israel’s U.S. Embassy posted to X on Saturday a picture of Abu Safiya in full Hamas uniform, noting, “A terrorist in a white coat is still a terrorist.”

The picture was uncovered by NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem watchdog group. It shows Abu Safiya at a ceremony marking the opening of an extension of the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Abu Safiya served as director of the hospital after the arrest of the previous director, Ahmed al-Kahlout, by Israel in December 2023. Kahlout admitted that “Hamas has turned hospitals into military facilities under their control,” NGO Monitor reported.

NGO Monitor founder and president Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg told JNS on Monday, “The massive and highly orchestrated propaganda campaign for Abu Safiya highlights his importance to Hamas and its allies.”

Abu Safiya’s involvement in the planning and carrying out of the Oct. 7 massacre is still not yet known but evidence of his links to Hamas are clear, said Steinberg.

“Following their usual methods, the pro-terror NGO chorus, including Amnesty international and Doctors Without Borders, and their political and academic allies, erase the war crimes stemming from systematically exploiting medical facilities for war and mass killing. To the extent that Abu Safiya was responsible for these war crimes, he must be held accountable,” he said.