The nation was shocked this morning after reports came out that Israel released dozens of Gazans on Monday, including the director of Shifa Hospital Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
According to the IDF and the security establishment, Shifa Hospital was used for years as a “terrorist infrastructure,” and Abu Salmiya was in control of Israeli hostages who had been brought there on October 7.
By the way, Kan 11 revealed on Monday that in recent months Gazan detainees have been returned to Gaza by the security establishment, under the radar and quietly, supposedly due to a shortage of prison space in Israel.
#عاجل مدير مستشفى الشفاء د. محمد أبو سلمية في أول كلماته بعد الإفراج عنه:
“وضع السجون مأساوي وصعب جدا، ويجب أن يكون هناك كلمة حاسمة للمقاومة والشعوب العربية من أجل حرية الأسرى”. pic.twitter.com/p5J8UW5suk— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) July 1, 2024
Government ministers were furious after Abu Salmiya’s release had been announced, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stated on the cabinet’s WhatsApp group:
“It’s time to send the head of the Shin Bet home, he is doing whatever he wants. He conducts an independent policy and in the cabinet debates, he has become the terrorist’s prison conditions advocate. [DM Yoav] Gallant is with him completely. They ignore the cabinet and the government.”
About three weeks ago, the state informed the High Court that by the end of June, all the detainees held at the Sde Yemen detention facility would be evacuated and that they would be transferred to other prisons in Israel or returned to the Strip.
According to a notice submitted by the state to the High Court, as of Sunday, there were 94 detainees out of approximately 140 in the facility who had been locked up there recently. According to the state’s announcement, 46 detainees were moved to Ofer prison last week as part of the efforts to evacuate the prison facility, and the rest remained as of Sunday in Sde Yemen.
At the same time, last week a new group of 45 detainees from the fighting in the Gaza Strip arrived at Sde Yemen and they are now being interrogated and taken in at the facility. Despite the state’s previous commitment to the High Court, the facility has not yet been closed.
Officials in Minister Ben Gvir’s office released a statement regarding the number of available holding cells [translated]:
“Since the beginning of the war, we have built more than 1,500 places of confinement, we have opened tent facility for another 1,000 places, and now we are building ten more wings. But there are 1500 empty prison places in the Sde Yemen that the IDF and the Shin Bet do not put terrorists in ‘because the conditions are not good'”.
In an unusual move, the Prison Services released a statement that not only indicated that the security establishment was lying about the reason Abu Salmiya was released, but also revealed the name of the individual within the security establishment who signed the order to free him.
Ben-Gvir says the disagreement between him and the Shin Bet is not whether or not there is enough space for the terrorists in Israeli jails, but that Ben-Gvir has taken away all their perks and reduced the quality of their living conditions. Ben-Gvir says the Shin Bet’s position is that if the terrorists can’t have better living conditions they should be freed. Ben-Gvir says that as long as Israelis are held hostage, starving in Gaza the terrorists won’t have perks.
המחלוקת ביני לבין שירות הביטחון הכללי אינה אם יש מקום בכלא או אין מקום בכלא.
שב”כ רוצה להיטיב את תנאי המחבלים אותם צימצמנו, ואם לא – לשחרר אותם.
ואני אומר: לא יקום ולא יהיה. בזמן שיש לנו חטופים רעבים ללחם בעזה, המחבלים לא יהנו מתנאי דה-לוקס. נפסקו הקייטנות.מאז פרוץ המלחמה,… pic.twitter.com/8w2ElF7Fo8
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) July 1, 2024
The Israel Prison Service responded Monday morning (H/T YK):
Unfortunately, due to false publications, we are forced to reveal the release order of the director of the hospital in Shifa. Contrary to the false claims that have been published in recent hours, the ones who decided to release the director of Shifa Hospital are the IDF and Shin Bet – and not the IPS, which does not make unilateral decisions about prisoners’ release, only their incarceration.
In addition, the director of the hospital was not released due to problems with his incarceration – the detainee was released from his cell in Nafha prison (and not Sde Yemen – DI). Therefore, any claim regarding the failure to release damages the professionalism and purity of the prison employees who face the worst of the murderers every day.
في أول كلماته بعد تحرره..
مدير مستشفى الشفاء د. محمد أبو سلمية: “وضع السجون مأساوي وصعب جدًا ويجب أن يكون هناك كلمة حاسمة للمقاومة والشعوب العربية من أجل حرية الأسرى”. pic.twitter.com/zjaQ6elL9I— Khaled Safi ?? خالد صافي (@KhaledSafi) July 1, 2024
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs told the same WhatsApp group:
“It is inconceivable that such a move be executed without a government meeting. If you asked for our approval of the hostage deal, shouldn’t you ask for it many times over for the release of hostages without any reciprocity? I demand to stop everything and convene a government meeting.”
Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli on Monday demanded clarification from Defense Minister Gallant following the release:
“Why did you release this man in whose hospital they murdered our hostages and a Hamas headquarters operated?”
Gallant’s office told Kan 11 News that “the Minister of Defense did not know about the decision to release the director of Shifa Hospital.” His office added that the decision did not go through him and that it was made by the IDF and Shin Bet, apparently due to the problem of overcrowding in prisons and detention facilities.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi wrote the cabinet’s WhatsApp group:
“Israel needs a new security leadership, from the bottom up, a leadership that will be committed to the spirit and valor of the fighters as the prime minister is committed to it, and better now than later.”
Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said:
“We found out that the director of the Shifa Hospital is not a doctor, he is Doctor Mengele, and the decision to release him is a moral and security recklessness.”
Haaretz cited a security official who said the Shifa Hospital director’s case had been reevaluated by the Shin Bet and military Intelligence who recommended his release because the urgency of his detention had diminished.
Avi Marciano, whose daughter Corporal Noa Marciano who worked for Military Intelligence was found dead near the Shifa hospital, commented Monday morning on the release of Abu Salmiya:
“Noa was abandoned before the Seventh of October when they wouldn’t listen to her. She was abandoned on the Seventh of October when they did not come to rescue her. She was also abandoned afterward when they did not do enough to return her home alive. And now, seven months after we buried her, the state of Israel has decided to release those who are directly or indirectly responsible for her murder. I’m ready to accept the release of those who have a part in my daughter’s murder only as part of a hostage deal, not like this.”
According to a report by Abu Ali Express, the Gazans are reporting that additional Gazan doctors were released.
