Hussam Abu Safiya, a Gaza doctor who criticized Israel in op-eds published by The New York Times, has been revealed as a Hamas officer, NGO Monitor reported.
In 2016, Abu Safiya was photographed wearing a Hamas military uniform at a gathering of top Hamas officials, during a celebration marking the completion of the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
His photo also appeared on the Gaza Medical Services‘ Facebook page. The Gaza Medical Services is a supervised by Hamas' "Health Ministry."
In one of his NYT op-eds, Abu Safiya wrote, "We are suffering and paying the price of the genocide that is happening to our people here in the northern Gaza Strip." The NYT op-ed bios referred to him as a "pediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza."
An IDF spokesperson confirmed that Abu Safiya is a ranked member of Hamas, and that terrorists were rampant in the hospital. The IDF also confirmed that Abu Safiya was arrested during the course of the war on suspicion of involvement in terror activities; he was later released.
NYT did not respond to The New York Post's request for comment; the Post was unable to reach Abu Safiya himself. The Prison Service did not respond to requests for comment regarding Abu Safiya's current location.
Last year, Abu Safiya admitted that Israeli hostages were held at his hospital, Israel's Channel 13 News reported.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested in December 2024 after a raid on the hospital resulted in the arrest of hundreds of Hamas terrorists and the dismantling of a Hamas command center located at the hospital.
During his interrogation, Abu Safiya continued to deny that he is a member of Hamas despite evidence from Gaza that he holds the rank of colonel in the terrorist organization. However, he did not deny that hostages were held at the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
When asked in English why there were hostages at the hospital, he responded in English that he provided medical treatment to the hostages.
He also claimed that the IDF removed all of the hospital's doctors.
Abu Safiya was arrested on suspicion of being a Hamas operative. Journalist Eitan Fischberger has shown that Arabic media has referred to Abu
as a Colonel in the Hamas-run Military Medical Services in Gaza.
Abu Safiya's lawyers have claimed that he was tortured while in detention in an attempt to garner global sympathy and force his release despite the accusations of his high-ranking place in the Hamas terrorist organization.
One such sympathetic figure was Francesca Albanese, who posted about Abu Safiya on X and wrote, "Get. Him. Out. Bring Him Home."