The attack turned Shifa into Symbol of warMany Gazans view Israel’s targeting of medical facilities as a sign of disregard for Palestinian life. The detention of Dr. Abu Salmiya has reinforced that view. For Israelis, the hospital is an example of Hamas using civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
The Israeli military later released some evidence to prove Hamas’ presence in the Shifa complex, including showing journalists a reinforced tunnel built beneath its premises. investigation The New York Times report suggested that Hamas had used the site as a cover and stored weapons there. However, the Israeli military has struggled to prove its claim that Hamas had a command and control center under the facility.
Dr Abu Salmiya’s release has caused a stir among Israeli ministers and members of parliament, who are already divided over Mr Netanyahu’s handling of the war. Those who resigned from government positions last monthCalling the decision a “moral and ethical operational error,” he accused the prime minister of releasing Dr. Abu Salmiya to free up “space and budget” for other Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet said in a statement that the government had failed to meet its request for more space in detention centers in order to arrest more “terrorists in Israel and the Gaza Strip.” Because of this, the Shin Bet and the military were asked to release a certain number of “less dangerous” detainees in Gaza in order to “clear the detention sites,” the statement said.
Israeli forces withdrew from Shifa Hospital after the initial attack in November, but returned in late March after the military said remnants of Hamas’ military wing had regrouped there, sparking a nationwide protest against the Israeli government. Two weeks of fighting They claim to have killed around 200 Palestinians and arrested hundreds more.
The fighting severely damaged many of the hospital’s main buildings.According to a doctor and a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defence Organization, bodies were scattered inside and outside the complex.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Dr. Abu Salmiya and Dr. Issam Abu Ajwa, a surgeon at Shifa Hospital, had been released. The statement called for the release of all detained Gaza medical staff who had been “arrested and tortured simply for treating the wounded and sick.”
The Health Ministry said on Sunday that at least 310 medical workers in Gaza had been detained by Israeli forces since the start of the war, but did not specify how many had been released.
Abu Bakr al-Bashir Reporting from London, Myra Novick From Jerusalem and Gabrielle Sobelman From Rehovot, Israel.
