TEL AVIV — One of Gaza’s top doctors has accused Israel of mistreating Palestinian prisoners, hours after he was released along with dozens of other inmates, sparking outrage and accusations among right-wing lawmakers and Israel’s security service.
After more than seven months in Israeli detention without charge or trial, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, was seen walking through the enclave with 54 other released Palestinians, many of whom were still wearing their gray prison uniforms.
“When you get treatment, you are tortured by the nurse and the doctor, and that is against international treaties,” he told an NBC News crew in Gaza of his experiences in what he called multiple Israeli prisons.
“We left the prisoners in a very difficult situation. What the prisoners are going through now has never happened before in the history of the prisoner movement,” he added, surrounded by family, colleagues and sympathizers celebrating his return.
In a separate statement from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, Salmiya said the Palestinian prisoners had been attacked and insulted. Conditions behind bars were “tragic,” he said, adding that there was a lack of food and water.
NBC News has reached out to the Israel Prison Service for comment. Asked about allegations of past torture, a spokesman for the prison service said it “operates within the provisions of the law” and “all required basic rights are fully implemented.”
Within Israel, the rare release of prisoners sparked a wave of anger and recriminations, even among officials and agencies responsible for the detentions. It exposed how the warfare in Gaza has deepened divisions within the Israeli government.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the country’s ultranationalist national security minister, criticized the decision to release the prisoners as “security negligence” and demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu block Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, from “to pursue an independent policy that is contrary” to the government.
Benny Gantz, a former member of Netanyahu’s now-defunct war cabinet and one of the prime minister’s main rivals, said the mass releases included militants who helped carry out the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that left 1,200 people dead and more than 240 people taken hostage.
He called it “a moral and ethical operational error” and said in a statement on Telegram that “whoever made the decision lacked judgment – and should be fired today.”
NBC News has asked the prison service whether anyone suspected of involvement in the October 7 attacks has been released.
Gallant, in a statement, attributed the decision to the Shin Bet and the prison service, which is under the authority of Ben Gvir, the minister of national security.
Netanyahu’s office, meanwhile, called Salmiya’s release a “serious mistake and a moral failure.” In a statement, it said the decision to release him was made “without the knowledge of the political leadership or the heads of the organizations.” It added that the prime minister had “ordered a thorough investigation into how this could happen” and that Shin Bet director Ronen Bar was expected to present the findings within the next 24 hours.
The Shin Bet responded to the scathing criticism by blaming what it called the Israeli government’s failure to address prison overcrowding.
“For about a year now, the General Security Service has been warning in all possible forums, written and verbal, about the dire situation of confinement and the obligation to increase the number of confinement places,” the intelligence service said in a statement. “Without an immediate solution to the incarceration shortage, arrests will continue to be canceled and prisoners will continue to be released.”
For months, Israeli officials have described Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest hospital, as a hotbed of Hamas activity and a textbook example of how the militant organization uses civilian infrastructure as a “human shield” to mask its operations.
The Israeli army drew international criticism when it laid siege to the sprawling hospital complex in November. Hospital administrators and Hamas denied that the facility had hosted military operations, and Israel’s attempts to justify its attacks on the hospital were met with skepticism.
Hospitals may lose their protection under international law if they are used by combatants for military purposes.
In recent months, advocacy groups have been calling attention to the plight of Gaza’s medical workers. In a statement last week, the UN Human Rights Office condemned the “reported killing of 500 medical workers in Gaza” since October 7.
More than 37,900 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its offensive following Hamas attacks, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Last week, the ministry reported that 310 health workers had been arrested.
The killings and arrests – doctors and nurses are often held without charge for months – have sparked outrage among Palestinian leaders.
“Israeli ministers and the opposition must apologize to doctors and health workers for arresting, torturing and abusing them in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” said Mustafa Barghouthi, the secretary general of the West Bank-based National Initiative , in a statement.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
