Al Shifa Director Released But Israelis Not Pleased!

After seven months in captivity the Israeli occupation army released the director of the Al Shifa Medical Complex Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiya along with 54 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated with him.

News of their release, Monday 1 July, 2024, is making headways on social media with images and commentary.

The freed Palestinian prisoners were transported first to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Dier Al Balah and then to Nasser Hospital where Abu Samiya held a press conference, outlining what he was subjected to by the Israeli authorities.

Dr Abu Samiya who was arrested on 23 November, 2023, said he was tried three times but the Israeli authorities said there was anything against him but he was kept in detention nevertheless.  

In a full interview with Anadolu, he said the conditions of the Palestinian prisoner’s kept in Israeli jails are “tragic, unprecedented in Palestinian  history with sever food shortages and physical humiliation.”

Later the director of Al-Shfa said “We are determined to rebuild Gaza and rebuild the Al-Shifa Medical Complex once more,” and make it an medical health institution for the whole of Gaza and the West Bank.

The release of the Palestinian prisoners has created much animosity among the members of the Israeli government like hard-right Minister of National Security Itamar Bin Gvir who criticized the move, terming it as “security negligence.”

He blamed the release of the Palestinian prisoners on Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Shin Bet and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must force them to stope pursuing an independent policy that contradicts the government.

Surprisingly as well, criticism of the release came Benny Gantz who recently resigned from the now disbanded Israeli War Cabinet over the conduct of the war on Gaza.

“The government has committed an operational, ethical, and moral failure. Whoever made the decision lacks leadership abilities and should be dismissed today,” he said.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Israel Bombs ‘Journalists Tent’ in Khan Younis

Israeli forces have bombed a tent housing Palestinian journalists near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing two and wounding nine others while burning them alive.

At least nine journalists were injured. They are Ahmed Mansour, Hassan Eslaih, Ahmed Al-Agha, Mohammad Fayek, Abdallah Al-Attar, Ihab Al-Bardini, Mahmoud Awad, Majed Qdeih, and Ali Eslaih.

At least two of the wounded journalists are in critical condition, one of them with severe burns and the other with a head injury from shrapnel.

In a disturbing footage circulating on social media, journalist Ahmed Mansout can be seen consumed by fire as people and rescue workers tried desperately to put it out. Mansour is a father and a journalist for Palestine Today.

“(Israeli) Missiles burned Colleague Ahmed Mansour and is still in intensive care, suffering from severe burns as a result of the targeting of the tent where he is sitting in the journalists’ camp at Nasser Hospital,” Wael Abo Omar, a Palestinian journalist in the blockaded enclave, said on X.

Mahmoud Bassam, a photojournalist based in Gaza, said Mansour “needs a miracle” to recover from the severe burns.

Journalist Helmi al-Faq’awi was tragically killed in the horrific Israeli attack along with another man, Yousef al-Khuzendar.

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