Hussam Abu Safiya in doctor scrubs and in a Hamas uniform. (X Screenshot)
Israeli officials have repeatedly said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad exploit medical sites as cover.
By Shmuli Volkin, Jewish Breaking News
A fresh credibility fight is erupting around Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after the New York Post reported that the Israel Defense Forces and NGO Monitor identify him as a Hamas colonel, citing images of him in a military-style uniform at a 2016 ceremony tied to the hospital.
The allegation matters because Abu Safiya also authored two opinion essays in The New York Times attacking Israel’s Gaza campaign, and those pieces reportedly described him as a pediatrician and hospital director, without any mention of a terror-linked rank.
If the claim holds, it’s not a minor biographical footnote; it’s a case study in how a global platform can be used to launder messaging from a group that embeds itself inside civilian systems.
The wider backdrop is the battle over hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad exploit medical sites as cover—and specifically, the IDF has described Kamal Adwan as a recurring terror stronghold in the north.
In one flashpoint, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani pushed back on Hamas claims about a hospital fire and warned that “running with unsubstantiated reports” reflects “questionable journalistic integrity.”
Other reporting underscores why this isn’t just a media argument.
Reuters quoted Abu Safiya describing severe conditions at the hospital while also reporting Israel’s denial of strikes in the immediate vicinity at that time, alongside Israel’s claim of ongoing coordination with hospital officials for humanitarian assistance.
Meanwhile, ABC News reported the IDF said Abu Safiya was detained on suspicion of being a Hamas operative during operations around Kamal Adwan and separately relayed the IDF claim that the hospital served as a Hamas command center—noting ABC did not see corroborating evidence attached to that statement.
There’s also open-source context being used to support the “rank” allegation.
Ynet reported that open-source material indicates Abu Safiya held a colonel rank and said the hospital has been described as part of Hamas’s “Military Medical Services Directorate,” pointing to a past CNN report and older imagery describing the facility as serving personnel tied to Gaza’s internal security apparatus.
Israel and multiple outlets have documented that Abu Safiya was the public-facing director of a hospital at the center of repeated IDF operations and Hamas messaging; Israel has publicly alleged Hamas use of the site; and major NGOs and media have treated Abu Safiya as a symbol of Gaza’s medical crisis.
The new claim—that he carried a Hamas officer rank while being presented to Western readers purely as a doctor—is now the point of collision, and it’s exactly where editors either demand full disclosure or become part of the information war.
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