LEADING Scottish medics have joined more than 500 healthcare professionals from across Britain demanding the Prime Minister act to secure the release of a Palestinian doctor and his colleagues abducted by Israeli forces.

Head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital Dr Abu Safiya was taken from its ruins in December 2024 and has since been held with peers without charge in conditions human rights lawyers have described as inhumane.

In an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the medics argue that the situation has become a “matter of life and death,” with the Israeli state not only facing accusations of organ harvesting from deceased detainees, but proposals currently before the Knesset which would permit the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism charges in its military courts.

These courts have a 99 per cent conviction rate.

“These developments mean that Dr Abu Safiya and his colleagues are now at immediate risk,” the letter, organised by the Scottish Palestinian Health Partnership (SPHP) and Health Workers 4 Palestine (HW4P), warned.

Calling on the Prime Minister to condemn the Death Penalty Bill, publicly call for the Palestinian medics’ release and demand independent inspection of detention facilities, the letter added: “By remaining silent, the UK risks becoming complicit.”

SPHP’s Dr Abdulla Alhasso, a Glasgow-based oncologist, said: “If a British consultant were seized from an NHS hospital and held by a foreign army accused of organ theft and preparing executions, would silence be an option?”

East Dunbartonshire GP and HW4P member, Dr Amanda Adler, added: “This is not just a question of one man’s safety, it is a test of the UK’s moral leadership. 

“Inaction now would be remembered as complicity.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office was contacted for comment.