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Israel releases 55 Palestinians it detained from Gaza

CAIRO — A Palestinian health official says Israel has released 55 Palestinians it detained from Gaza, including the director of the territory’s main hospital.

Mohammed Abu Selmia was detained in November when Israeli forces raided Shifa Hospital. The army said Hamas was using the facility for military purposes and uncovered a tunnel within the medical complex. Abu Selmia and other staff denied the allegations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for an investigation into the release of a prominent Gaza doctor from Israeli custody Monday.

The decision to release Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital, sparked uproar from across the political spectrum, with government ministers and opposition leaders saying he should have remained behind bars and reiterating Israeli allegations that the hospital served as a base for Hamas.

Abu Selima was released without charge or trial back into Gaza.

Netanyahu said that the decision was made to release Selmia following a petition by rights groups to shut down a shadowy detention facility in Israel’s south which alleged that Palestinians were being abused at the overcrowded facility. The case prompted the government to transfer the bulk of the Palestinian detainees held there to other facilities and to release some, like Selmia.

In justifying its first raid, Israel said that underneath the hospital lay a complex network of tunnels, a central command centre for Hamas. Evidence produced from that raid— caches of weapons, a tunnel leading to small, rusty quarters that appeared out of use, and no scores of militants found — fell far short of the claim.

Nahedh Abu Taema, director of the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, which has also been raided by Israeli forces, says Abu Selmia was among 55 Palestinian detainees from Gaza released Monday. He says all but five were taken to Nasser Hospital for medical checks while the others were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Israel accuses Hamas and other militant groups of sheltering in hospitals and using them for military purposes. Palestinian health officials say Israeli raids have forced several hospitals to shut down or dramatically reduce services, recklessly endangering civilians. Hospitals can lose their protection under international law if they are used for military purposes.

In video comments aired by Palestinian media following his release, Abu Selmia accused Israeli authorities of mistreating Palestinian detainees, saying they “are subjected to daily physical and psychological humiliation.”

Israeli authorities have denied such allegations.

Associated Press

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