Detainees suffered “almost daily torture”, says the director of al-Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya.
Israel has released dozens of Palestinians detained during the war in Gaza, including the director of one of the enclave’s main hospitals.
Israel released 55 prisoners on Monday to free up space in its prisons, unconfirmed reports say. Speaking shortly after his return to Gaza, Director of al-Shifa Hospital, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, stated that Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s prisons faced daily abuse.
With thousands of Palestinians joining those already detained since the start of the war on October 7, Israel’s prisons are “crowded”, the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Abu Salmiya was arrested amid allegations by the Israeli military that Hamas was using al-Shifa Hospital as a base. The chief medical officer said no charges were brought against him.
Released after more than seven months in custody, he said detainees suffered “daily physical and psychological humiliation” in captivity.
“Our detainees were subjected to all types of torture behind bars,” he said at a news conference in Gaza. “There was torture almost daily. Cells are broken into and prisoners are beaten.
“Several inmates died in interrogation centers and were deprived of food and medicine,” he added.
Reporting the alleged abuse, Abu Salmiya said the guards broke his finger and beat him with batons and dogs.
Medical staff were also responsible for abuse and neglect, he said, with limbs of some detainees amputated due to inadequate medical care.
Captives also became severely malnourished while in custody, he added, surviving on nothing more than a loaf of bread a day for two months. They all lost at least 30 kg (66 lb), he said.
Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the allegations of mistreatment, but have previously denied such allegations.
The Israel Prison Service denied that Abu Salmiya was released due to a lack of space in the country’s prisons.
health campaign
Abu Salmiya was among those detained in November during an Israeli military raid on al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest health facility.
Israel alleged that the compound, where around 2,300 Palestinians were sheltering, was being used as a Hamas command center, accusations the team denied.
During the attack, Israeli forces destroyed the complex’s medical services and shot at people trying to leave the complex, according to doctors. The bodies of at least 179 people, including seven babies, were buried in a mass grave on the hospital grounds.
Al-Shifa is among more than 100 health facilities that Israel has invaded and attacked during the nine-month war, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
‘Negligence’
After their release, most of the released detainees were taken for medical examinations at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Others were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, where dozens of family members of the detainees turned up to meet with them and ask about the fate of those still behind bars, images verified by fact-checking agency Sanad show. , from Al Jazeera.
Several Israeli political figures criticized the decision to release the detainees.
The far-right Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, classified the measure as “security negligence”.
Former war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said whoever ordered their release should be fired and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “close some government offices to free up space and budget for prisoners.”
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel has arrested hundreds of Palestinians from the enclave and thousands more from the occupied West Bank, holding many of them without charge.
At least 40 Palestinians died in Israeli custody during that period, an official with Palestinian monitor Addameer told Al Jazeera.
Abu Salmiya, speaking after his release, said some were killed in interrogation cells.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
