Shin Bet releases 50 Palestinian prisoners, including Shifa hospital director, because ‘no room in prison’

Although Shin Bet said there wasn’t enough evidence to continue to hold the prisoners, they also indicated there was ‘not enough room in current incarceration facilities.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Shin Bet made the highly controversial decision to release 50 Palestinian prisoners, including the director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza where terrorists were embedded.

Although Shin Bet claimed there was no concrete evidence to justify holding the prisoners, they added that  there was “not enough room in current incarceration facilities.”

Politicians and families of hostages reacted with outrage at the decision to release Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the Shifa hospital director who had been held since November 28.

An IDF source told The Jerusalem Post in December that, although Abu Salmiya’s answers to questions aroused suspicion, there was no concrete evidence that he was involved in Hamas’s terror activities in the hospital.

However, it is also believed that lack of room in the prisons was also a factor in releasing the 50 prisoners.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir slammed the head of Shin Bet for the decision and said, “It’s time to send the head of the Shin Bet home, he does what he wants at present.”

He added, “It’s time the prime minister stopped [Defense Minister] Gallant and the head of the Shin Bet carrying out independent policies which contradict the position of the cabinet and the government.”

Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli asked Defense Minister Gallant: ‘Why was this man, director of the hospital where our hostages were murdered and which served as a Hamas command center, released?

Avigdor Liberman compared Salmiya to Mengele, a Nazi doctor who conducted inhuman experiments on Shoah victims, and said, “The decision to release him is wrong on a moral and a security level.”

Avi Marziano, whose daughter Noa Marziano was captured while on lookout duty on October 7th and was later murdered by Hamas in Shifa hospital, expressed outrage at Salmiya’s release on Facebook.

“Noa [an IDF observer who warned of Hamas activity] was abandoned before October 7th when people didn’t listen to her. She was abandoned when they didn’t come to save her. She was abandoned once again when they didn’t do enough to bring her back alive.”

He added, “Now, seven months after she was buried, the state of Israel decided to free the person directly or indirectly responsible for her murder. Sorry, my dear child, that they are continuing to abandon you even now.”

He concluded, “I would be willing to accept the release of one who had a part in my daughter’s murder only as part of a hostage deal, not this way.”

Hamas terroristshostage familiesPalestinian prisonersShifa hospitalShin Bet