Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister deny involvement in decision to free director of Shifa hospital, accused of collaborating with Hamas.
By World Israel News Staff
Israel on Monday released dozens of terror suspects arrested during the war in Gaza, including a high-profile hospital director accused of collaborating with Hamas before and after October 7th.
Fifty security prisoners from Gaza were released by the IDF and Shin Bet internal security agency Monday.
The freed prisoners were detained for months after being captured in the Gaza Strip under administrative arrest orders imposed over their alleged ties to terror groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
One of the freed terror suspects has been identified as Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, which was used for years as a de facto Hamas command and control center and where a number of Israeli captives were held after October 7th.
Shortly after his release, Abu Salmiya made a video statement lauding the Palestinian “resistance” and calling for the release of all remaining security prisoners in Israel.
News of the mass release sparked outrage on both sides of the political aisle, and was sharply condemned by relatives of Israelis killed or taken captive on or during October 7th.
“Noa was abandoned before October 7th, in that she wasn’t listened to,” said Avi Marciano, bereaved father of Noa Marciano, an IDF soldier killed after being taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7th and held in Shifa Hospital.
“She was abandoned on October 7, when no one came to save her. She was abandoned afterwards when not enough was done to bring her home alive. And now seven months after we buried her, Israel decides to release the man indirectly responsible for her murder. I’m sorry, my girl, that even now you are being abandoned.”
From the Likud, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi tweeted their condemnations of the mass release.
“Why is this man, in whose hospital hostages were murdered and a Hamas command center operated, being released?” wrote Chikli.
“Israel needs new security leadership, the sooner the better,” tweeted Karhi.
Settlements Minister Orit Strock (Religious Zionist Party) called the decision “unthinkable,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir blamed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) and the Shin Bet internal security agency chief Ronen Bar.
“It’s time for the Prime Minister to stop Gallant and the Shin Bet chief from conducting an independent policy contrary to the position of the Cabinet and the Government,” Ben-Gvir said.
Defense Minister Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both denied prior knowledge of the release, distancing themselves from the decision.
“The procedure for incarcerating security prisoners and their release is under the Shin Bet and the Israel Prison Service, and is not subject to the approval of the defense minister,” the Defense Minister’s office said in a statement Monday morning.
The Prime Minister’s Office blamed the Supreme Court for the release, citing its criticism of alleged crowding at the Sde Teiman detention facility in the south.
“The decision to release the prisoners followed discussions at the High Court on a petition against the detention of prisoners at the Sde Teiman detention facility.”
“The identity of the released prisoners is determined independently by security officials based on their professional considerations.”
The Shin Bet, which operates under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office, blamed National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Israel Prison Service, which is party of Ben-Gvir’s ministry.
“For about a year now, the Shin Bet has been warning… about the incarceration crisis and the necessity to increase the number of [cells],” the agency said Monday.
“The incarceration crisis leads to the cancellation of arrests of suspects involved in terror activities on a daily basis, and to a direct harm to the security of the state.
The agency’s warnings and requests the Shin Bet claimed, “went unaddressed, and in practice, the number of [cells] did not increase as needed.”
On the Left, former MK and current chairman of The Democrats party Yair Golan denounced Abu Salmiya’s release, arguing it testified to the inability of the Netanyahu government to function.
“A government that does not know how to conduct a war, that releases prisoners without any exchange when 120 hostages are still being held in Gaza, is a government that needs to come to an end immediately.”
Opposition Leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid echoed Golan’s comments, saying the release of the hospital director is a direct continuation of the recklessness and dysfunction of the Israeli government which is causing damage to the security of Israel’s citizens.”
The Zionist activist group Im Tirtzu blasted the decision to free the security prisoners.
In response to the decision, Matan Jerafi, head of the missions department in the Im Tirtzu movement, and combat reserve soldier who has just finished his second tour of duty since October 7th said this following the release of Abu Salmiya:
“If someone at the political level has decided to return us to Friday, October 6th, maybe it really should release all the reserve soldiers and announce the end of the war,” said Im Tirtzu mission department chief Matan Jerafi.
“How can it be that soldiers risk their lives and the government releases the terrorists? The director of the hospital, or rather the hostage house, is an arch-criminal whose sentence should be hanging after a publicized trial, just like Eichmann. What is happening to the Israeli government? Your conduct shames the soldiers fighting and harms the memory of the fallen. Come to your senses!”