Israel releases 50 Palestinians detained in Gaza

Israel has released dozens of Palestinian prisoners including the head of Gaza’s biggest hospital, who had been detained for more than seven months.

His release was confirmed on social media by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and by a medical source inside the Gaza Strip.

He was detained by Israeli forces in November 2023 while traveling south from Gaza City following an Israeli military raid on the hospital.

In video footage widely circulated on social networks, Abu Selmia is seen near a Red Crescent vehicle and being warmly welcomed upon his arrival in Gaza.

“The Israeli occupation arrests everyone, and medical staff have died in Israeli prisons due to torture and a lack of medical care,” he stressed.

Successive raids have seen the hospital where he worked largely reduced to rubble since Israel launched attack on Gaza on October 7.

Israel has martyred at least 37,877 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Gaza.