Netanyahu calls release of Gaza hospital director 'severe mistake and moral failure'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the release of the director of a Gaza hospital where Hamas was embedded “a severe mistake and a moral failure” and demanded the establishment of a team to approve future releases.

Shifa Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya was released on Monday morning along with close to 55 other Palestinian prisoners.

The hospital was proven to have been used to keep hostages and house weapons and ammunition intended to kill Israelis.

Salmiya was arrested in November on suspicion of involvement with Hamas’s embedding itself in Shifa Hospital.

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

On Monday, Israeli officials speculated about who was ultimately to blame for the decision, and politicians emphasized that the political echelon was not informed of it.

The Prime Minister demanded a probe into the issue and Ronen Bar, the director of Shin Bet, is expected to release his findings tomorrow.

Netanyahu also demanded the formation of a team comprised of the Defense Ministry, IDF, Shin Bet, and National Security Council to approve the release of prisoners in the future.

MK Avigdor Liberman compared Salmiya to Mengele, a Nazi doctor who conducted inhuman experiments on Shoah victims, and said, “The decision to release him is wrong on a moral and a security level.”

Avi Marziano, whose daughter Noa Marziano was captured while on lookout duty on October 7th and was later murdered by Hamas in Shifa hospital, expressed outrage at Salmiya’s release on Facebook.

“Noa [an IDF observer who warned of Hamas activity] was abandoned before October 7th when people didn’t listen to her. She was abandoned when they didn’t come to save her. She was abandoned once again when they didn’t do enough to bring her back alive.”

He added, “Now, seven months after she was buried, the State of Israel decided to free the person directly or indirectly responsible for her murder. Sorry, my dear child, that they are continuing to abandon you even now.”

He concluded, “I would be willing to accept the release of one who had a part in my daughter’s murder only as part of a hostage deal, not this way.”