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Media Helps Spread Lies of Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza

Israeli soldiers operate at the opening to a tunnel at Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, November 22, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah appears to enjoy the limelight.

A Google search of the London-based surgeon’s name brings up numerous results for news articles that he’s quoted in and Dr. Abu-Sittah has built a following of more than 300,000 accounts across his social media channels.

It was, therefore, unsurprising that among the things Abu-Sittah did shortly after returning from a recent trip to Gaza, was to organize a press conference to tell journalists about it.

So, on Monday, November 27, reporters from outlets including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times of London, and Sky News crammed into a room in London and listened as Abu-Sittah gave his verdict on the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

During the five-week period in which he volunteered his medical services at the al-Ahli and al-Shifa hospitals, Abu-Sittah apparently became something of a munitions expert and, as such, was able to confidently announce to a room full of the media that Israel had definitely deployed white phosphorus in the Gaza Strip.

Although Israel has staunchly denied the claim that the IDF has used white phosphorus as a weapon, branding such allegations “unequivocally false,” Dr. Abu-Sittah insisted that he treated numerous patients with the “characteristic” burns of the chemical.

And this is not the only thing Abu-Sittah is absolutely certain about.

He’s also 100 percent sure he didn’t see a single Hamas terrorist or even armed hospital security at al-Shifa hospital — despite this being where Hamas based its operations, and the fact that footage has emerged showing piles of Kalashnikovs dotted around the medical facility, Hamas terror tunnels beneath the hospital, and CCTV of Israeli hostages being dragged into the hospital by Hamas terrorists shortly after the October 7 attack.

“At no stage did I see any armed police at Shifa, even the security men at Shifa, they were there just to police the number of relatives trying to get into the emergency department,” he told wide-eyed journalists at the press conference, adding that he frequently went to the hospital basement to collect medical items for surgeries and saw “nothing.”

Abu-Sittah’s experience is in sharp contrast to that of another British doctor who also volunteered at al-Shifa, and confirmed that because of the presence of Hamas, there were certain parts of the facility he dared not enter at the risk of death.

In addition to discussing his time volunteering in Gaza, Abu-Sittah also shared his view that the “genocidal” Jewish state has an end goal to “ethnically cleanse Gaza,” and suggested the IDF is targeting civilians in Gaza because, despite the IDF’s denying this abhorrent allegation, “statistically, it appears that the numbers tell a different story.”

And as has become a depressingly familiar trend with media outlets covering the Israel-Hamas war, no journalists pushed back on, investigated, or even questioned some of Abu-Sittah’s more incendiary remarks.

For example, in addition to printing the doctor’s claim that white phosphorus has been used in battle, The Telegraph also devoted much space to his absurd idea that Israel is ethnically cleansing Gaza, as well as his view that the country is guilty of “war crimes.”

What war crimes these are given that Israel has denied using white phosphorus is unclear, and the Telegraph doesn’t bother asking.

Similarly, The Guardian led with Abu-Sittah’s claims that he watched a “massacre unfold” while in Gaza, and that it is actually the destruction of the Palestinian health system that is the IDF’s objective in Gaza — not, presumably, Hamas.

His proof is that he was at al-Ahli on October 17, which is the day the hospital car park was struck by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that was initially blamed by the global media on Israel, andsaid  he heard a “whistling sound of a missile followed by an explosion.”

This, Abu-Sittah, told The Guardian, was “a litmus test … for what the IDF had planned to do to the rest of the health system.”

It’s conspiratorial guff, but The Guardian can’t help uncritically lapping it up.

Meanwhile, The Times dedicated much of its piece to Abu-Sittah’s graphic accounts of how dwindling medical supplies in Gaza resulted in patients reportedly suffering from infected wounds, and his assertion that IDF soldiers are using quadcopters with snipers, which he was certain of because he had witnessed exit wounds that were “bigger than a clenched fist.”

And while The Times did note the IDF’s wealth of evidence that Hamas used al-Shifa as a base, it still failed to push back on some of Abu-Sittah’s more ridiculous claims.

Since his press conference, Abu-Sittah has been on something of a media blitz about his time in Gaza, sitting down for interviews with LBC and Channel 4 News.

They follow a similar line: Abu-Sittah has lots of opinions on how awful Israel is and he’s never once seen a Hamas terrorist despite working at one of the terror group’s command centers.

It’s lazy journalism — as tired as it is predictable.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Media Helps Spread Lies of Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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