Netanyahu: Release of Shifa director a ‘severe mistake’ that will be probed quickly

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

An image grab from a file handout video released by the Hamas Media Office shows Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, giving a press briefing on November 1, 2023, regarding the repercussions of fuel shortages on the hospital. (AFP/HO/Hamas Media Office)
An image grab from a file handout video released by the Hamas Media Office shows Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, giving a press briefing on November 1, 2023, regarding the repercussions of fuel shortages on the hospital. (AFP/HO/Hamas Media Office)

The release of Shifa Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya from custody today was “a severe mistake and an ethical failure,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as various ministers and senior security officials have traded blame, each claiming they had nothing to do with the controversial move.

“This man, under whose responsibility our hostages were held and murdered, belongs in prison,” continues Netanyahu in a statement.

This morning, Netanyahu ordered an investigation into how the release happened, the statement says. Shin Bet director Ronen Bar will present his findings to the premier tomorrow, says the Prime Minister’s Office.

Netanyahu stresses that the decision to release Abu Salmiya was made without the knowledge of the political echelon or the heads of the security agencies.

The premier also creates an interagency body — made up of the Defense Ministry, IDF, Shin Bet and National Security Council — to approve the release of prisoners whose interrogation has been completed.

Abu Salmiya was arrested by IDF troops in November, on suspicion of having allowed Hamas to use the Gaza City hospital as a center of operations. He was detained and taken for questioning by the Shin Bet, as he was attempting to evacuate to the south of the Strip via an IDF-operated humanitarian corridor.

He was returned to Gaza this morning along with 55 other Palestinian detainees.

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