The Middle East minister has been accused of “lobbying” on behalf of an alleged Hamas colonel.
Hamish Falconer voiced concern over the detention and treatment of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, who has been held by Israel since December 2024.
I am aware of the concerning reports about the treatment of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya who is still in Israeli detention. We have raised his case again today with the Israeli authorities. Britain’s commitment to the rule of law and a fair trial is resolute.
— Hamish Falconer MP (@HFalconerMP) July 5, 2026
“I am aware of the concerning reports about the treatment of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya who is still in Israeli detention. We have raised his case again today with the Israeli authorities. Britain’s commitment to the rule of law and a fair trial is resolute,” the minister wrote on X.
Groups including Amnesty International and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have called on Israel to release Abu Safiya – who was arrested as part of an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan hospital – and claim he has been mistreated.
Confirming Abu Safiya’s arrest on December 27, 2024, the IDF said he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative”, without any supplying further detail on the accusation.
They accused Hamas terrorists of “using the Kamal Adwan Hospital as a command centre for its military operations” and that, in response, “the IDF conducted and completed a targeted operation against the Hamas terror stronghold inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital”.
In January this year, the New York Post published images appearing to show Abu Safiya wearing military fatigues at an event following the completion of Kamal Adwan hospital in 2016, alongside other leading members of Hamas.
A 2020 Facebook post by the Gaza Strip Medical Services referred to him by the rank of “colonel”.
Falconer’s omission of the accusations against Abu Safiya were widely criticised.
Dame Priti Patel told the JC: “It is alarming that Hamish Falconer omitted to mention Hussam Abu Safiya’s reported status as an officer of the vile terrorist organisation Hamas when lobbying on his behalf.
“It is hard to believe Falconer didn’t know about these accusations, considering the publicity around him.
She continued: “Nobody should be denied a fair trial or mistreated in detention. But Labour are denying the reality in front of their eyes. The Conservatives will always stand with our allies against Hamas and other Iranian backed proxies.”
Other social media users were also critical of Falconer’s remarks about Abu Safiya.
Eylon Levy, a former Israeli government spokesperson, re-shared the minister’s remarks on X with the following caption: “1. Hussam Abu Safiya is a Hamas colonel 2. Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK Below is a UK government minister, presented without comment:”
Andrew Fox, a former British Army officer and senior associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a centre-right foreign policy think tank, commented: “A British government minister going into bat for a Hamas colonel and member of a proscribed terrorist group. Wonderful.”
Human rights groups have claimed that there is no solid evidence Safiya had a combat role, and they compare his position to a senior medical administrator rather than a military commander. They also argue that the unit he worked in, Gaza's Military Medical Services, is affiliated to Hamas but not part of the terror group.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office has been contacted for comment.
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