Who is Adam Hamawy? Doctor who served in Gaza is on the path to US Congress

Hamawy’s primary victory in New Jersey likely to make him the only US Congress member with firsthand experience of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon, army veteran and conflict-zone medical worker, has won a crowded Democratic primary for an open seat in the United States House of Representatives.

The Egyptian-born doctor’s victory puts him on track to represent New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold. He will face off with Republican Gregg Mele on November 3 in the midterm elections.

While the New Jersey primary continues a streak of progressive wins in solidly Democratic districts, Hamawy stands out from many of his peers. If elected in November, he will become the only member of Congress with firsthand experience of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Speaking to Al Jazeera in April, Hamawy recounted his experience travelling to Washington, DC, following his medical mission to the Palestinian enclave in 2024.

“[I was] talking to lawmakers and our representatives as a witness to say: This is happening there,” Hamawy recounted. “This is real. This isn’t fake news. This isn’t just on social media. I’ve experienced it, and this is what I saw in my own eyes.”

He received a mixed response. A handful of lawmakers spoke out against the war, citing his testimony. Others expressed private condemnation but did nothing publicly, and some closed their doors to any meeting with Hamawy.

“This is what prompted me to run,” he said. “We need more [elected officials] that are brave, more that will actually act upon what we know is wrong.”

As a representative, Hamawy hopes he can help steer the House to confront Israel’s genocidal war and the US role in it. “I felt I had to go to Washington to fix this myself.”

Congress plays an outsized role in the lives of Palestinians in Gaza, as it is tasked with approving the billions of dollars in military aid the US provides annually to Israel.

It also wields the authority to pass legislation to block arms transfers.

But while congressional visits to Israel – and, to a lesser extent, the occupied West Bank – are common, no sitting member of Congress is known to have visited Gaza in recent years.

In October 2023, Congressman Mark Pocan, who represents Wisconsin, said that no member of Congress had been allowed into Gaza “for a decade” amid Israel’s ongoing blockade of the enclave, which began when Israeli forces and settlers withdrew in 2005.

The last known visit by a sitting member of Congress, beyond closely coordinated trips to border crossings, was by Keith Ellison