Video of the March 1 Program at the Palestine Museum US

We Honored the Doctor, Demand his Freedom

Click here for the full March 1 program for Dr. Abu Safiya

Click here for short where Dr. Kuemmerle tells of the recent BAD news about what the Israeli's have done to the doctor.

Click here for a short of the banner held up in the museum

He's in real trouble. We have to redouble efforts to free him

.

Media Release:

Groups to Honor Dr. Abu Safiya for Nobel Peace Prize

2026 Nomination

For more information contact Stanley Heller, Stanley.heller@att.net

On Sunday March 1, 2026 local and national groups will honor Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya of Gaza, who has been in Israeli custody since December 2024, and who has been nominated for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. The event will take place at the Palestine Museum US, 1764 Litchfield Turnpike in Woodbridge, CT starting at 3 p.m. Eastern

Keynote speakers at the event will be Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide and Rabbi Abby Chava Stein. Stein is an active member of the rabbinical group T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.

Dr. Abu Safiya, medical doctor and abducted Medical Director of the forcibly closed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been illegally imprisoned by Israel for near 14 months. He has not been formally charged with anything, nor has evidence of wrongdoing been advanced, but it is claimed he is an "unlawful combatant”.

Dr. Abu Safiya was nominated by Carol Gray, JD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Law, Department of Political Science at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. (Dr. Gray notes that the views expressed in this nomination are her views as an individual and are in no way to be attributed to her department or the university for which she works.)

This was her statement to the Norwegian Nobel Institute in support of the nomination.

"It is my honor to nominate Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya for the Nobel Peace Prize 2026. He was born in Gaza in the Jabalia refugee camp in 1973. Abu Safiya moved to Kazakhstan for higher education where he obtained citizenship. He studied medicine at Ahmet Yassawi University in the Kazakhstan city of Turkistan. After graduating, Abu Safiya and his wife returned to Gaza in 1996, living in Jabalia. Abu Safiya went on to specialize in pediatrics and neonatology, obtaining a master's degree and passing the Palestinian Board exams. He began working as a doctor for the Gaza Health Ministry, going on to become the head of the pediatric department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, a major hospital serving northern Gaza. In February 2024, Abu Safiya became the director of the hospital replacing Ahmed al-Kahlout who had been seized by Israeli armed forces. In addition to his work at Kamal Adwan Hospital, Abu Safiya also acted as MedGlobal's lead physician for Gaza. Like all Gaza medical facilities, Kamal Adwan performed incredible work despite severe shortage of essential supplies. And like all Gazans, Dr. Abu Safiya and his staff were intentionally starved, often arrested, even as its building endured sieges and bombardment. Kamal Adwan hospital suffered several military attacks starting in December 2023 and continuing until its forced closure at the end of 2024. In an October 2024 attack all the male staff of the hospital were detained with few being allowed back. Abu Safiya was among those interrogated. During this Israeli assault Dr. Abu Safiya’s 15-year-old son Ibrahim was killed in a drone strike on the entrance to the hospital. A month later, the hospital’s ICU director was killed in a drone strike. Abu Safiya himself was injured in his leg by shrapnel from a drone strike on the hospital while he was returning to his office after performing surgery. He remains unlawfully detained by Israel."

Stanley Heller, Executive Director of Connecticut's Middle East Crisis Committee said, "After Kamal Adwan Hospital had been devastated, Dr. Abu Safiya was video recorded walking alone through rubble to surrender to soldiers in an armored Israeli military vehicle. He has been detained ever since as an 'unlawful combatant', but no evidence has been produced that he did more than treat patients. In November 2025 Dr. Abu Safiya was given the “Courage Award” in absentia by our organization which was founded 1982." (Its website is TheStruggleVideo.org).

Carol Gray remarked, “Choosing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya would spotlight the horrific genocide in Gaza as well as the incredible courage of the Palestinian people who have endured so much. It might also save his life.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

At the end of January Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026. He was nominated by Assistant Professor Carol Gray. She began her nomination:

"It is my honor to nominate Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya for the Nobel Peace Prize 2026. He was born in Gaza in the Jabalia refugee camp in 1973. Abu Safiya moved to Kazakhstan for higher education where he obtained citizenship. He studied medicine at Ahmet Yassawi University in the Kazakhstan city of Turkistan. After graduating, Abu Safiya and his wife returned to Gaza in 1996, living in Jabalia. Abu Safiya went on to specialize in pediatrics and neonatology, obtaining a master's degree and passing the Palestinian Board exams. He began working as a doctor for the Gaza Health Ministry, going on to become the head of the pediatric department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, a major hospital serving northern Gaza. In February 2024, Abu Safiya became the director of the hospital replacing Ahmed al-Kahlout who had been seized by Israeli armed forces. In addition to his work at Kamal Adwan Hospital, Abu Safiya also acted as MedGlobal's lead physician for Gaza. Like all Gaza medical facilities, Kamal Adwan performed incredible work despite severe shortage of essential supplies."

Click here to see her full post to the Noble Prize Committee

Our campaign will mark the nomination with an event at the Palestine Museum US on Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m. Details coming.

Today Feb. 13, 2026 we learned that Hatem Rayyan, a Palestinian paramedic who was abducted from Kamal Adwan Hospital on December 27, 2024, died in an Israeli prison. He was taken the same day as Dr. Abu Safiya. Time is of the essence.

The Basics about Dr. Abu Safiya and his Abduction

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was taken by the Israeli army when it committed the crime of destroying Kamal Adwan Hospital in norther Gaza. This pediatrician was director of the hospital. Despite being held for a year Israel has not charged him with anything or shown any evidence that he was involved in "terrorism" or any other such crime. Amnesty International calls for Abu Safiya’s release.

This piece was written about him in many Connecticut newspapers in early December '25. Opinion: A Connecticut call for Israel to release Palestinian doctor.

Democracy Now had a section of its program about him on October 14, 2025.

His attorney has said that Abu Safiya was tortured in Israeli prisons and has lost 1/3 of his body weight.

The Middle East Crisis Committee gave him its Courage Award in absentia on Nov. 22, 2025. The ceremony was featured on its TSVN program https://youtu.be/4bueCwIka2Y?si=uTJbIgVwBQR486Ty