A recent report by the New York Post tells readers that:
“A Gaza doctor who slammed Israel in a pair of New York Times op-eds is a colonel with terror group Hamas, according to an Israeli watchdog group and the Israeli Defense Forces.
Hussam Abu Safyia was photographed wearing a Hamas camo military uniform while at a gathering of Hamas elites to celebrate the completion of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in 2016, according to the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor.
Safyia’s photo appeared on the Gaza Medical Services‘ Facebook page — a group overseen by the Hamas-run health ministry.”
NGO Monitor adds:
As was noted here over a year ago, Hussam Abu Safiya’s military rank had already been revealed by Eitan Fischberger in late 2024. Earlier, in March 2024, Mark Zlochin had flagged up the starvation allegations and dubious statistics put out by the military hospital headed by Abu Safiya.
The BBC News website published several reports amplifying claims made by Abu Safiya throughout 2024, with no mention made of his military rank, his connection to Hamas or the status of the hospital he managed:
“Gaza children searching for food to keep families alive” Fergal Keane, 26/2/24
“In northern Gaza, there have been reports of children dying from malnutrition. The British charity Action Aid cited a doctor in northern Gaza as saying that a significant number of children had died.
In a video recording, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya – the head of paediatrics at the Kamal Adwan Hospital – said malnutrition was widespread, as well as infections of the digestive system.”
“Israeli air strike on north Gaza school kills at least 22, medics say” David Gritten, 17/10/24
“The director of the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, told the BBC in a voice note that about 25 people were killed and 75 injured in the strike, and that children and women were among the casualties who had been brought there.
“Our hospital is small in size and we cannot receive all these injured people. Most of the people presented to us were women or children,” he said.”
“‘How will we survive?’ Fears in Gaza over food aid after Israel moves to ban Unrwa” live page, 29/10/24
“Dozens reportedly killed in Israeli strikes on northern Gaza” Yolande Knell & Jaroslav Lukiv, 21/11/24
“Photographs from the scene of the air strike in Beit Lahia on Thursday morning showed piles of rubble and twisted metal, about 55m (185ft) away from Kamal Adwan hospital.
Its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, said there were “dozens of dead or missing”.
“Bodies arrive at the hospital in pieces,” he told AFP news agency. “But there are no ambulances, the health system is on its knees in northern Gaza.”
Dr Abu Safiya said the hospital was only able to provide first aid to most casualties brought there because Israeli forces were not allowing in enough medical supplies.”
“Children among dozens killed in Israeli strikes, Gaza officials say” Jacqueline Howard, 23/12/24
“The director of the Kamal Adwan hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, said its generators had been hit and claimed the Israeli army was targeting the fuel tank. […]
The hospital’s director also released a statement that said Israeli forces were treating the hospital “as if we were a military installation”.
“Anyone who steps outside the hospital is at risk of being targeted,” Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said.
He added that relocating the operations of the hospital would jeopardise the patients, and called for health staff “be allowed to operate without the threat of evacuation”.”
In December 2024, the IDF carried out operations at the Kamal Adwan hospital, which were extensively covered on the BBC News website and other BBC platforms, apparently without the corporation’s journalists having carried out any independent research before amplifying a Hamas statement.
“Israel forcibly evacuates Gaza hospital and detains medical staff” 28/12/24, discussed here
“Israeli forces have detained and interrogated medical staff after forcibly evacuating the last major hospital in northern Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, was among those taken for questioning by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which accused him of “being a Hamas terrorist operative”, without providing evidence.”
“WHO appeals for end to attacks on Gaza’s hospitals” Yolande Knell & David Gritten, 30/12/24, discussed here
“Dr Tedros also joined rights groups and relatives calling for the immediate release of Kamal Adwan’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that his hospital was a Hamas “stronghold” and that troops had killed about 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others during the raid. It added that Dr Abu Safiya was among those taken for questioning and that he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative”.
The military did not provide evidence for the allegations, which Hamas dismissed as “lies”.
US-based MedGlobal condemned the detention of Dr Abu Safiya, who was its lead physician in Gaza, as “not only unjust” but also “a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones”.”
“Israel confirms it is holding Gaza hospital chief Abu Safiya” Emir Nader & Rachel Hagan, 3/1/25, discussed here
“Dr Abu Safiya was arrested as the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza last Friday, alleging the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold”.”
In September 2025 the BBC rejected a complaint made by CAMERA UK in early January of that year concerning its inaccurate portrayal of the number and status of people killed during the IDF’s operations at Kamal Adwan hospital in December 2024:
“I understand your complaint is about this report from December 2024: Israel forcibly evacuates Gaza hospital and detains medical staff – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx26v70n5z4o
You say this passage is inaccurate:
On Friday an estimated 50 people, including medical staff were killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the hospital, the health ministry said.
You say this is because the IDF’s put out a statement contradicting it: “The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that a military raid, completed Saturday, on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza had killed 19 terror operatives, without any known civilian casualties.”
Our report was written on 27 December and updated on 28 December. It included what the Israeli military had said up until that point about the strikes on the hospital:
The IDF said it had carried out an operation there, alleging the hospital was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold”.
We later received a further IDF statement giving us their version of events in fuller detail. We that [sic] in a report published on 30 December – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86wd84y7jyo
The passage reads: The Israeli military said on Saturday that his hospital was a Hamas “stronghold” and that troops had killed about 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others during the raid. It added that Dr Abu Safiya was among those taken for questioning and that he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative”. The military did not provide evidence for the allegations, which Hamas dismissed as “lies”.
You say we should remove the claims by the Gaza ministry of health about the attack on the hospital from the initial report because they are “inaccurate”.
However, we have no evidence that Israel’s version of events was the accurate one and that the Hamas-run health ministry’s version was inaccurate.
Therefore, we will not delete the ministry’s claims in favour of Israel’s. Instead, we intend to let the two versions of events stand as they are in our published reports. These show, for the record, the points at which each side made its claims about what had happened at Kamal Adwan Hospital.”
A complaint made by our colleagues at CAMERA Arabic in January 2025 was rejected by the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit.
Information concerning Hamas activities at the Kamal Adwan hospital had already been made public in December 2023.
“Revealed in ISA investigation: Ahmad Kahalot, the Director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip, admits that Hamas has turned hospitals into military facilities under their control: “I was recruited to Hamas in 2010 with the rank of Brigadier General. There are employees in the hospital who are military operatives of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades – doctors, nurses, paramedics, clerks, and staff members״.
Kahalot was apprehended on December 12th at the Kamal Adwan Hospital by the IDF and ISA.
During the ISA interrogation, Ahmad Kahalot describes how Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, including hiding its operatives, carrying out military activity, moving around Hamas members, and even bringing a captured soldier to the hospital.”
Another Hamas operative/hospital staffer who was among those apprehended in December 2024 told investigators that:
“I joined the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in 2021, serving in the Nukhba Force. I was arrested at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, where medical staff was staying alongside operatives from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Nassr Brigades and other organizations in northern Gaza.”
When asked what the terrorists were doing at the hospital, he answered: “They were transferring equipment and weapons, like AK-47s, bullets and pistols. The weapons were brought to and from the hospital, in and out. Reconnaissance units and patrols would leave the hospital late at night.”
According to Sharif, “They [terrorists] would arrive at the hospital in the morning and distribute grenade and mortar munitions for attacking tanks, whether at Kamal Adwan, Falouja (in the Jabaliya refugee camp), or areas with newly established (terrorist) presence.”
In other words, information concerning Hamas’ control over the Kamal Adwan hospital – as well as evidence of its director’s Hamas connections and military rank – was available in the public domain long before the BBC began quoting and promoting Hussam Abu Safia in its coverage of events in the Gaza Strip.
Despite having BBC Monitoring, an entire Arabic language department and local journalists on the ground who should have been able to flag up that information, the BBC instead preferred to accept ‘explanations’ provided by the health ministry run by the Hamas terrorist organisation, once again undermining its own claim to provide its audiences with accurate and impartial news.
