Palestinians in need of treatment due to ‘brutality they were subjected to’ by Israeli authorities.
Seven Palestinians freed by Israel on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal have been admitted to hospitals upon arriving in Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said.
A total of 183 Palestinians were freed by Israel on Saturday in exchange for three captives freed by Hamas.
Israel’s prison service said in a statement the prisoners “were transferred from several prisons across the country” before being taken to the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza.
More than 100 Palestinians returned to the Gaza Strip.
“All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care, treatment, and examinations as a result of the brutality they were subjected to during the past months. There are seven who were transferred to the hospital,” said Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the NGO, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that seven inmates had been admitted to hospitals.
The fifth captive-prisoner exchange since the ceasefire took effect last month comes as negotiations are set to begin on the next phase of the deal which could pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
There are an estimated 4,500 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons – 310 of them held under the so-called “administrative detention” without the right to a trial.
Dozens of Palestinians released from Israeli jails last week showed signs of torture and starvation, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
“Every time prisoners are released, we find the prisoners’ bodies reflecting the level of crimes committed against them, including torture that is unprecedented in its level after October 7, starvation crimes, systematic medical crimes, and the infection of a number of them with scabies, in addition to the severe beatings that the prisoners were subjected to before their release, which continued for days according to many of their testimonies, and which in some cases led to rib fractures,” the organisation said in a statement last week.
One of the released Palestinians said, “For the past 15 months, we were exposed to the most brutal torture … the Israelis treated us in inhumane ways. They treated animals better than us.”
Basil Farraj an analyst from Birzeit University, said the release of the Palestinians “does not end the brutal conditions” that they are being subjected to in Israeli jails. He said Palestinians are treated as “sub-human” by Israeli authorities.
He warned that Israel is likely to re-arrest some of those who have been released as in the case of previous detentions.