1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

I am urgently calling on Congress to take immediate and decisive action to protect and free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the Palestinian pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. Dr. Abu Safiya was not captured on a battlefield. He was abducted by Israeli forces after refusing to abandon his patients while Israel was attacking, besieging, and destroying Gaza’s healthcare system. He was actively working as a doctor, saving lives, while Israeli forces were killing civilians, bombing hospitals, and ordering medical staff and patients into impossible and unlawful conditions. He has been held without charge since December 2024. His “offense” is being a Palestinian doctor who refused to acquiesce to Israel’s illegal demands and refused to leave his patients to die. Reports from his lawyer and human rights advocates indicate that Dr. Abu Safiya has been tortured, severely abused, denied adequate medical care, and left in life-threatening condition. Congress must demand his immediate and unconditional release, independent medical examination and treatment, access to legal counsel and family, and a full investigation into his torture and detention. This is not an isolated case. It is part of Israel’s broader policy of targeting Palestinian healthcare workers, hospitals, patients, and civilian infrastructure. Gaza’s healthcare system has been deliberately devastated, and Palestinian doctors have been detained, disappeared, tortured, and killed for continuing to serve their people. The United States is not a neutral observer. Numerous U.S. administrations, including the Trump and Biden administrations, have armed, funded, shielded, and enabled Israel’s military and detention regime. U.S. weapons, diplomatic cover, and political protection have helped make these atrocities possible. I urge you to publicly demand Dr. Abu Safiya’s immediate release, pressure the White House and State Department to intervene now, suspend military support to Israel, and end U.S. complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians, doctors, and hospitals. Silence is complicity. Act now to save Dr. Abu Safiya’s life.