Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the release of Gaza’s biggest hospital chief, who claimed to have been tortured during his seven months in detention, as a serious mistake shortly after it was announced on Monday.
Tensions surrounding the release of Al-Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya erupted almost as soon as he was returned to Gaza, among dozens of other Palestinians detained since the October 7 bombings that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
The World Health Organisation voiced an alarm after Abu Salmiya and other hospital staff were detained on November 23.
Israel’s military accuses Hamas of using hospitals, particularly Al-Shifa, to conceal military operations, which the operative group denies.
Netanyahu said he has asked the Shin Bet intelligence agency to investigate the release and report back to him by Tuesday.
In a statement, Netanyahu stated, “The release of the Shifa Hospital chief is a serious mistake and a moral failure. The place of this man, under whose responsibility our abductees were murdered and held, is in prison”.
“The decision was made without the knowledge of the political echelon”, Netanyahu continued.
The agency had previously stated that it had agreed on the release with the Israeli military to free up places in detention centres.
It went on to say that it opposed the release of terrorists who had taken part in attacks on Israeli people so it was decided to free several Gaza detainees who represent a lesser danger.
Itamar Ben Gvir, National Security Minister, a hard right member of Netanyahu’s cabinet, has branded Abu Salmiya’s release with dozens of other terrorists a security abandonment.
Israeli raids and a weeks-long battle earlier this year destroyed Al-Shifa. Other clinics and medical institutions have also been damaged, prompting censure from UN agencies, NGOs, and international governments.
Abu Salmiya said that he and other captives were subjected to severe torture in Israeli prisons throughout their incarceration.
“Several inmates died in interrogation centres and were deprived of food and medicine”, stated Abu Salmiya, who claimed his thumb remained fractured.
Abu Salmiya went on to say, “For two months no prisoner ate more than a loaf of bread a day”.
“Detainees were subjected to physical and psychological humiliation”, Abu Salmiya added.
The medical chief stated that no charges had ever been brought against him.
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