British counter terrorism police has showed up at my house in the UK and harrased my family.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) October 16, 2023
“It’s a kind of brutish attempt at harassment… as if my wife did not have enough to worry about”
Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a plastic surgeon in Gaza, says police turned up to his family home in the UK today, to ask why he’s in Gaza and who paid for his ticket#bbcnewsnight pic.twitter.com/O3NuaOec8T
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 16, 2023
“Having identified that the man had left the UK for humanitarian purposes, the officers signposted the occupant to current FCDO advice.”
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 17, 2023
Jews are not doing well with their invasion of Gaza.
Instead, they’ve decided to harass the families of… doctors?
A surgeon based in London who has travelled to Gaza to treat patients at a hospital in the territory alleges that counter-terror police have “harassed” his family.
Prof Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with a practice in west London, has made several media appearances this week live from Gaza. He claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that officers showed up at his home in London.
He later told BBC Newsnight that the officers had questioned his wife on why he had travelled to the Palestinian territory, who paid for his ticket and which charity he was helping.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “On 16 October, police officers responding to a report that a man was planning to travel to a war zone attended an address in north London where they spoke with one of the occupants.
“Having identified that the man had left the UK for humanitarian purposes, the officers signposted the occupant to current FCDO advice.”
Abu-Sittah, speaking live from Gaza, told Newsnight: “I think it’s a brutal attempt at harassment and silencing us.
Prof Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Abu-Sittah has become a voice from the frontline of the Dar Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, speaking for the injured children and medics trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas.
Since last Monday, two days after Hamas’s deadly onslaught on Israel sparked the conflict, he has been living and working at the hospital, treating the wounded virtually round the clock. But he has also told the world about the humanitarian disaster and near-impossible conditions at Shifa.
He has a wife and three sons at home in London. As soon as the news broke they knew he would be heading to Gaza, he said last week. “The kids have grown up with it,” he added.
And he has vowed to stay until there is a ceasefire. “I can’t now turn my back on my patients. I can’t turn my back on my colleagues. I came here knowing that this is a war zone, and you have a moral duty as a doctor towards your patients, and caring for your patients who can’t evacuate and can’t get away,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday.
No one can evacuate.
The doors are closed.
If you’re in Gaza, you’re there for the long haul.
Probably best to just lock ’em and load ’em.
Arm the kids, arm the women. Arm everybody.
It’s better than dying like dogs.
I think it’s safe to say God is with Gaza.
Might as well go all-in.
The world is with you.
We all want to see dead Jews.
I will not stop speaking out on behalf of my patients and bearing witness to the crimes that are being commited.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) October 16, 2023
Most of the casualties arriving into hospitals in Gaza are among children. pic.twitter.com/Yvt2uKa4IE
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) October 17, 2023