Israel releases Gaza hospital director held for 7 months without charges

Israel on Monday released the director of the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital after more than seven months in captivity, Palestinian health officials said, a move that sparked immediate outrage in Israel, even though no charges against him have yet been made public.

Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, was arrested in late November while taking part in an attempt to evacuate patients from the hospital, which was under siege by the Israeli military. The military said he was taken in for questioning about Hamas operations at the hospital.

Reaction to Dr. Abu Salmiya’s release underscored the divergent views on the war both inside and outside Israel. Human rights groups said his prolonged imprisonment without charge was a sign of Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been held for long periods without charge or trial, while some Israeli officials on Monday condemned the decision to release him as an example of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mismanagement of the war.

At a press conference at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after his release, Dr Abu Salmiya, visibly weak, said he had been released and returned to Gaza, along with nearly 50 other Palestinian prisoners, including other doctors and Ministry of Health staff.

“We were subjected to extreme torture,” he said, adding that his finger was broken and he had been repeatedly hit on the head. The Israel Prison Service, which runs the Nafha prison where he was last held, said in a statement that it was unaware of Dr. Abu Salmiya’s claims and that “all prisoners are held according to the law.”

The reaction to Dr. Abu Salmiya’s release also highlighted the rift between Israel’s security forces and the country’s political class. The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, said in a statement that the government had failed to meet demands for additional space in detention centers so that more “terrorists in Israel and the Gaza Strip” could be arrested. As a result, the Shin Bet said, it and the military were required to release a certain number of prisoners who posed “less of a threat” in order to “free up prison spaces” for new inmates.

Mr Netanyahu’s office deflected responsibility in a statement, calling the doctor’s release “a serious mistake and a moral failure,” carried out “without the knowledge of state decision-makers.” It said the prime minister had ordered an investigation into the matter “so that such a mistake will not happen again.”

The Israel Prison Service said in a statement that the decision was made by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet, but the military said the prisoner was not in custody.

Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister, called the doctor’s release “security negligence” and blamed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. Mr. Gallant’s office responded with a statement saying the release of prisoners “is not subject to the defense minister’s approval.”

Benny Gantz, an opposition leader in parliament who resigned from Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet last month, accused the government of moral failure and said Netanyahu’s failure to take responsibility for the move was further evidence of his inability to lead.

Israeli politiciansboth within and outside the governing coalition, and the security services have become increasingly blunt in their open criticism of the government’s conduct of the war and its lack of post-war planning.

The release of Dr. Abu Salmiya came amid signs of the militants’ continued ability to operate in Gaza. At least 20 rockets were fired from southern Gaza toward Israel on Monday morning, the Israeli military said, one of the largest barrages from the area in months. The military said many of the rockets were intercepted, while others fell in Israeli border communities, though no injuries were reported. The military said it fired artillery in response, hitting the sources of the incoming rockets.

Mr. Netanyahu indicated that the most intense fighting may be winding down, though that leaves open the possibility that the war could continue for a long time, at a lower volume. “We are approaching the end of the phase of eliminating Hamas’ terrorist army; we will continue to attack its remnants,” he said in a statement.

According to the Israeli Ministry of Interior, more than 9,600 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, the highest number in more than a decade. HaMokedan Israeli human rights organization. According to them, many prisoners are held without charge and are mistreated during their detention.

According to Israeli authorities, of the approximately 4,000 people detained in Gaza between October 7 and the end of May, about 1,500 have been released and returned to the enclave.

Dr. Abu Salmiya was detained in November while traveling with a United Nations ambulance convoy evacuating patients from Al-Shifa Hospital to southern Gaza. He was stopped at an Israeli checkpoint, the Gaza Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

At the time, the Israeli military said he was taken in for questioning “following evidence that Al-Shifa Hospital, under his direct leadership, served as a Hamas command and control center” — a charge that Hamas and hospital officials have denied. An Israeli military spokesman told reporters at the time that Dr. Abu Salmiya had not been charged and that the military was not suggesting he had any ties to Hamas.

Doctor Abu Salmiya told reporters on Monday that although he has appeared in three or four court cases, no charges have ever been filed against him.

The Israeli invasion of Al-Shifa became a symbol of the war, and many Gazans see Israeli attacks on medical facilities as a sign of contempt for Palestinian life. The capture of Dr. Abu Salmiya reinforced that view.

For Israelis, the hospital was an example of how Hamas exploited civilian infrastructure – and civilians – as shields for its military operations.

The Israeli military later released some evidence to support its claim that Hamas operated out of the Shifa compound, including showing reporters a fortified tunnel built beneath the compound. An investigation by The New York Times suggested that Hamas had used the site as cover and stored weapons there. However, the Israeli military has struggled to substantiate its claim that Hamas had a command and control center beneath the hospital complex.

After their initial incursion into Al-Shifa in November, Israeli forces withdrew from the area. But in late March, after the army said remnants of Hamas’s military wing had regrouped there, Israeli forces returned to the hospital, sparking two weeks of fighting in which they said they killed about 200 Palestinians and arrested hundreds more.

The fighting has severely damaged many of the hospital’s main buildings. According to a doctor on the scene and a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defense, bodies were scattered in and around the complex.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a statement Monday that Dr. Abu Salmiya had been released along with Dr. Issam Abu Ajwa, a surgeon with Al-Shifa. The statement called for the release of all other detained Gaza medical workers who “were arrested and mistreated solely for treating the sick and wounded.”

At least 310 medical workers in Gaza have been detained by Israeli forces since the war began, the Health Ministry said Sunday. It did not specify how many have been released.

The number of Palestinians in Israeli jails has increased since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza. Israeli forces have arrested hundreds of people in Gaza as they search for fighters, the army said, while security forces in the occupied West Bank have launched a crackdown they say is aimed at rooting out militants.

Human rights groups say the arrests are often arbitrary and the conditions in which Palestinians are held can be inhumane. Israel says the detained Palestinians — including outspoken senior militants convicted of brutal attacks — are being treated in line with international standards.

The reporting was provided by Myra Nieuwenhuis, Abu Bakr Bashir, Gabby Sobelman, Patrick Koningsley, Bilal Schbair And Aaron Bokserman.