This Gaza Pediatrician Wrote for NYT. He is also a Hamas Colonel.
New York Times op-ed contributor Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya allegedly holds colonel rank in Hamas, according to Israeli military and watchdog group.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Gaza pediatrician who wrote two opinion pieces for the New York Times criticizing Israel's military campaign, holds the rank of colonel in Hamas, according to Israeli military officials and the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor.
The allegations, based on photographic evidence and Arabic-language media reports, raise questions about the disclosure practices of international news organizations relying on sources from the Gaza Strip.
Photographs cited by NGO Monitor show Abu Safiya wearing Hamas military camouflage at a 2016 ceremony marking the completion of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The event was attended by senior Hamas figures including Gen. Abu Obaida Al-Jarrah and National Security Forces commander Col. Naim al-Ghoul, according to images posted on the Facebook page of Gaza Medical Services, an organization overseen by Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
In both op-eds, published in October 2023 and December 2024, the Times identified Abu Safiya only as "a pediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza." The pieces described suffering under Israeli bombardment and accused Israel of genocide. Neither the newspaper nor Abu Safiya disclosed any alleged Hamas affiliation.
Arabic-language media outlets including Quds Net News Agency, Alray, Pal Times and Al Watan have referred to Abu Safiya with the military title of colonel in reports spanning 2017 to 2021, according to a review by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
"It's clear these news articles are using the word 'aqeed' to describe Hussam Abu Safiya which means military colonel," said Yigal Carmon, president of MEMRI. "This word would not be used to describe someone running a hospital as a civilian."
The Israeli military confirmed that Abu Safiya was arrested during the war on suspicion of "involvement in terrorist activities." He was interrogated and released without formal charges. The military said the hospital he directed was "teeming with hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists."
Vincent Chauvet, a senior researcher at NGO Monitor, said those who provided Abu Safiya a platform should conduct "deep soul-searching" about amplifying the voice of someone allegedly part of Hamas's military apparatus.