Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital chief says tortured in Israel detention

The head of the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital said on Monday after being freed from more than seven months of detention that he had been "tortured" by Israel.

Al Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya was among dozens of Palestinians released and returned to Gaza for treatment, according to Israeli authorities.

Abu Salmiya said he and other prisoners were put through "severe torture" in Israeli prisons, after being detained since the Oct.7 cross-border attacks.

"Several inmates died in interrogation centres and were deprived of food and medicine," according to Abu Salmiya, who said he still had a broken thumb.

Mohammad Abu Salmiya walks after his release from an Israeli jail. Reuters

"For two months no prisoner ate more than a loaf of bread a day," he added. "Detainees were subjected to physical and psychological humiliation."

The medical chief said no charge had ever been made against him. Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency said it had decided on the release with the Israeli military "to free up places in detention centres."

Emotional reunions

After crossing back to Gaza near the city of Khan Younis, five detainees were admitted to Al Aqsa Hospital and the others were sent to hospitals in Khan Younis, a medical source said.

Palestinian men who had been detained by Israeli forces speak to well-wishers and reporters after their release. AFP

An AFP correspondent at Deir Al Balah saw some detainees in emotional reunions with their families. Abu Salmiya was not the only top medical practitioner detained. The Gaza European hospital in Khan Yunis said the head of its orthopaedic unit, Bassam Miqdad, was among those freed on Monday.

In May, Palestinian rights groups said a senior Al Shifa surgeon had died in an Israeli jail after being detained. The Israeli army said it was unaware of the death.

Agence France-Presse