A SCOTTISH doctor and former SNP MP who worked in Gaza has spoken out as concerns continue to grow for a prominent Palestinian hospital director.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement Dr Hussam Abu Safiya is “currently being investigated by Israeli security forces” in person.
Concerns had grown for the doctor following his arrest during an Israeli raid late last month that closed Kamal Adwan Hospital – the last major functioning health facility in northern Gaza.
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Reports suggested he is being held at Sde Teiman, a military base which now doubles as a detention facility, which has previously faced accusations of abuse.
We previously told how a senior figure within Medical Aid for Palestinians had called for the UK Government to intervene in Safiya's case.
Dr Philippa Whitford, the former SNP MP for Central Ayrshire who worked in Gaza in the 1990s, said the UK’s silence on the issue was part of a “pattern of silence”.
“The public are signing petitions, they’re calling for arms embargoes, for a ceasefire or whatever it is,” she told The National.
“We either get a word salad from the current government, or indeed the previous one before now, or we get absolute silence.”
When The National approached the UK Government for comment on Dr Safiya, it pointed to a tweet made by Hamish Falconer – the minister for the Middle East and North Africa – who said:
“The situation in North Gaza cannot continue.
“Today I conveyed our serious concern about the safety of civilians in Kamal Adwan hospital to Israel’s government.
“Israel must ensure civilians can leave safely and have access to vital medical care.”
Dr Safiya’s impact
Doctors on social media have shared messages of support for Safiya, with the last image taken of the doctor showing him walking towards Israeli tanks.
He was previously arrested by Israeli forces during an earlier raid on the hospital in October with his 15-year-old son also killed in a drone strike.
On why Safiya is such a significant figure, Whitford (below) said: “We’ve seen damage done to hospitals over and over. I think it was his determination that he wouldn’t leave, he wouldn’t abandon patients or evacuate them when they were likely to die.
“We saw that at his own personal cost. He was injured when the hospital was attacked and they were possibly attacking him specifically.
“He’s very important in what he did, he’s very much a symbol of the medical determination trying to go on looking after patients.
“Even for me, having worked in Gaza, these [conditions] are almost unimaginable. People are finding ways of setting up tent wards and trying to get some kind of service going but it won’t be anything like what we imagine because they can’t get the supplies.
“They really are on their knees, what they’re facing. If we were facing this degree of attack and violence, our NHS would struggle.”
The IDF has said that Safiya is “currently being investigated by Israeli security forces” in prison having alleged the hospital was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold”.
‘It keeps me up at night’
Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s healthcare facilities have prompted increasing condemnation.
On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Office says Israeli attacks on and around hospitals have pushed Gaza’s healthcare system to “the brink of total collapse”.
Footage shared on social media shows hundreds of displaced Palestinians also having to cope with the impact of flooding as temperatures drop.
“It’s no surprise to hear of babies dying of the cold,” Whitford told The National.
“What we’re hearing is horrific. I can’t help but think of them every night when I’m going to bed you know under a warm, cosy quilt and thinking of the conditions they’re in.
“When we went to Gaza, we went with T-shirts and sandals and that kind of stuff and luckily had some hiking boots and jeans.
“But it switches in November and it can happen in the space of a week. Gaza is prone to flooding anyway but with the destruction of sewage infrastructure that’s even more so.”
Meanwhile, the UN’s top expert on the occupied Palestinian territories has urged medical professionals to cut ties with Israel.
The UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, called on the medical community to act in a statement on Monday.
She said: “I urge medical professionals worldwide to pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel’s full destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing genocide.”
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Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa office has already called for Safiya's "immediate and unconditional" release.
A statement read: "For months, Dr Abu Safiya has been the voice of Gaza's decimated health sector, appealing for the protection of his hospital and working under inhumane conditions, including following the killing of his son.
"Israel must immediately release all Palestinians arbitrarily detained, including health workers. Hospitals and health workers are not targets."
Impact on Labour
Labour have consistently come under pressure for their stance on Palestine, having only ruled out around 30 out of 350 arms export licences.
We revealed earlier this week how the majority of Scots believe the UK Government should ban all arms sales, according to figures from Find Out Now.
Despite the pressure however, Labour won a landslide victory at the General Election in July last year.
“I thought it might have played a bigger part during the election than it did,” Whitford said.
However, when asked about the future impact it could have on Labour given their difficult time in office thus far, Whitford said: “I think younger voters who are really shocked at the complicity with what’s happening in Gaza, but also the destruction of international humanitarian law by trying to defend the indefensible.
“With the US, backed up by the UK, there’s no moral authority left to criticise any other world leader or nation in future wars and how they would be conducted.
“It’s just a repeating pattern. It’s as if there’s nothing Israel could do that would make the US take action or even the UK take action.
“I think that’s something many people feel ashamed about as well as angry about and we see that in polling and public opinion.”
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has resulted in the death of more than 45,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
However, Whitford said she thought the figure was much higher because not every death was a direct result of a bomb, but rather the product of the destruction on the healthcare system.
Israel’s bombardment started after Hamas’s attacks on October 7 2023, in which about 1200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Whitford said: “What happened was appalling and if you’re a humanitarian you shouldn’t forget the suffering of bereaved families in Israel because their suffering is the same as a mother in Gaza.
“But it’s nor more nor is the suffering of a Palestinian family less. If you’re a humanitarian you should want this to stop and frankly this doesn’t make Israel safer.
“Allies of Israel will find it harder and harder to support the actions and war crimes they’re carrying out in Gaza.”
Speaking previously on arms export licences, a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “We have suspended relevant export licences to Israel for use in military operations in the Gaza conflict, following a review which concluded there is a clear risk that some UK export items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.
“Our focus is on securing a ceasefire, the release of hostages, better protection of civilians, and the acceleration of aid into Gaza.
“A ceasefire would not only help to protect civilians in Gaza, but also pave the way for wider de-escalation and bring much-needed stability for the Middle Eats.”
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