The Ministry of Defense disassociates itself from the measure and the Shin Bet points to the lack of space to keep all detainees in prison
1 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, distanced himself this Monday from the release of the director of the Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, Mohamed abu Salmiya, more than seven months after his arrest, in the face of a wave of criticism from Israeli politicians, including coalition government ministers.
Netanyahu’s office said that “the decision to release the prisoners came after discussions in the Supreme Court over a petition against the detention of prisoners at the Sde Teiman facility.”
In this sense, he added that “the identities of those released were determined independently by security officials based on their professional considerations”, as reported by the Israeli newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.
He also announced the opening of an investigation into the matter, after which Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also distanced himself from the incident, adding that “the procedures for the imprisonment of security prisoners and their release are the responsibility of the Shin Bet and the Israel Prison Service, without being subject to approval by the Defense Minister.”
The powers over the Shin Bet fall to Netanyahu’s office, while the Israel Prison Service depends on the Ministry of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been precisely one of the politicians most critical of the release of Abu Salmiya. , who has already been transferred to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities informed the Israeli Supreme Court nearly three weeks ago that all Palestinian prisoners held at the Sde Teiman detention center — including Abu Salmiya — would be transferred to other facilities or returned to the Gaza Strip.
In response to criticism, the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence service, has argued that the release has taken place due to a lack of space in Israeli prisons and plans to end the use of the Sde Teiman facility, while stressing that it has been warning of an “incarceration crisis” in Israel due to a lack of sufficient cells for “about a year.”
“The incarceration crisis leads to the cancellation of the arrest of suspects involved in terrorist activities on a daily basis and direct damage to the security of the State,” he stated, while saying that the requests to increase the number of cells “were presented to the relevant parties, mainly the Minister of National Security, although they remained without a response.
For this reason, he has stated that he ruled out the release of Palestinians detained in the West Bank due to “immediate” fear of possible attacks, as well as members of the elite Nujba unit of Hamas, before adding that those released were released after it was determined that they were not They posed a significant threat.
The Shin Bet said Abu Salmiya “met all the requirements (for release) regarding the level of threat he poses.” “In the absence of any other option and without an immediate solution to the prison space crisis, arrests will continue to be cancelled and detainees will continue to be released,” it said.
CRITICISM OF THE RELEASE
Ben Gvir has criticized the release of Abu Salmiya through his account on the social network “The time has come for the prime minister to prevent (Defense Minister Yoav) Gallant and the head of the Shin Bet from carrying out independent policies contrary to the position of the cabinet and the Government,” he said, demanding the dismissal of both senior officials.
In this regard, opposition leader Benny Gantz, who recently resigned from his post in Israel’s war cabinet, has maintained that “whoever made the decision (to release Abu Salmiya) should be dismissed today,” while fellow opposition leader Yair Lapid, who was prime minister, has said that this is “a debacle” that represents “a direct continuation of the lawlessness and dysfunctionality that characterizes the government, which harms the security of Israel’s citizens.”
For his part, Abu Salmiya expressed his surprise after arriving in Gaza at the fact that some members of the Israeli government “say they did not know” that he was released from prison, since “he did so officially.” “Our release from prison took place without an agreement and an Israeli court confirmed that we had not been charged,” he stressed, before denouncing that he had been subjected to “almost daily torture” in Israeli prisons.
The Israeli army confirmed on November 23 the arrest of Abu Salmiya, arguing that the center, “under his direct management,” functioned as a “headquarters” for Hamas. In this regard, it stated that the group “used many resources, including electricity, to maintain the tunnel system built under the hospital,” and stressed that the group “used the hospital as a refuge for its terrorists” after the attacks carried out on October 7 in Israel.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza authorities, meanwhile, said the arrest of Abu Salmiya and other health workers took place during the evacuation of the centre, coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO), after weeks of “siege, assault and destruction by the occupation forces” against the centre, which was partially destroyed.
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