PALESTINIAN Resistance Movement Hamas said that it made every effort to safeguard the lives of its captives in Gaza, the final 20 of whom were released yesterday, despite the Israeli military’s attempts to kill them.
Their treatment was in sharp contrast to the torture meted out to the nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, who were also released.
In a statement, Hamas declared that under the US-mediated ceasefire its forces, led by the Al-Qassam Brigades, released 20 living Israeli captives and the bodies of 28 others, while Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian abductees, held illegally in Israeli jails.
‘The Resistance made all efforts to preserve the lives of the occupation’s prisoners, despite the attempts of war criminal (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his terrorist army to target and eliminate them,’ said the statement.
Hamas said the release of Israeli captives occurs ‘at a time when our prisoners in the occupation’s jails are subjected to all forms of violations, including abuse, torture, and killing.’
The Palestinian people, ‘will not rest until the last prisoner is freed from the jails of the new Nazis and the occupation is removed from our land and holy sites.’
A Palestinian detainee in his early 20s, released yesterday as part of the deal, described the torture he endured in the Israeli prison.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera in Khan Younis, he said: ‘Our people are brave and steadfast. We have sacrificed a lot, yet our sacrifice is too little compared to others. Again we thank the steadfast Palestinian people who did all they could in order to have us released. And above all we thank the brave and terrific resistance and resistance fighters. They did all that was needed to have us released.’
The interviewer said: ‘Tell us about the conditions in which you were detained. Were you tortured, did you get enough food, clothes?’
He replied: ‘The conditions in which we were detained cannot be described as other than inferno. Those who are behind the Israeli forces are totally different from what we have been hearing. I send out a message to the entire world, we have inmates in ward 23/24. It’s called the slaughterhouse.
‘We were fired on with rubber bullets. I have deep wounds in my private parts and my back. These wounds were caused by the rubber bullets. Many of my fellow detainees were shot by rubber bullets. They were electrified and we were detained in a slaughterhouse, honestly speaking. Many detainees are left without food or medical care.
‘They are being tortured two or three times every single day. With the break of dawn the Israeli soldiers would start battering us. We were tortured on a daily basis.’
He was asked: ‘How can you describe your feelings. What was in your mind when you set foot outside the Israeli prison?’
He replied: ‘My feeling is a mixture of sorrow and joy. I mourn for the losses we have suffered.
Many of my loved ones were killed. I was told that many of my family have been killed. It is also a mixture of joy simply because I am reunited with ones who survived from my family members. My joy would be complete if all the Palestinian detainees would be released and we are all united.’
Israeli Parliament gives Trump repeated ovations
US President Trump was given repeated standing ovations when he addressed the Israeli Knesset (parliament) yesterday.
He said: ‘Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) would call me so many times – can you get me this weapon, that weapon, and some of them I’d never heard of.
‘But we’d get them here, wouldn’t we,’ he said, adding: ‘Israel knew how to use them well.’
Meanwhile, he claimed that Israel has ‘won all that it can by force of arms.’
Trump further claimed that the recent ceasefire agreement, proposed by his administration, marks the end of Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as the end of the ‘age of terror and death.’
He also called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, who is currently on trial on corruption charges, and stands accused of fraud and breach of trust over a scandal involving the acceptance of luxury gifts.
‘I have an idea, why don’t you give Netanyahu a pardon?’ he said in comments directed at Herzog. ‘Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about this?’
Trump then moved on to the Gaza summit in the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where more than 20 world leaders are attending.
‘Prime Minister Netanyahu was invited by US President Trump to participate in a conference taking place today in Egypt,’ a statement by his office said.
‘The Prime Minister thanked President Trump for his invitation but stated that he would not be able to attend due to the proximity of the event to the start of the (Jewish) holiday,’ it added.
Trump and Egypt’s leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, are co-hosting the summit, which aims ‘to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability,’ according to the Egyptian presidency.
A Hamas political bureau member said the group will not participate in the event, adding that the Palestinian resistance group ‘acted principally through Qatari and Egyptian mediators,’ during previous talks on Gaza.
There are reports that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be attending the event to finalise an agreement aimed at ending the genocidal war in Gaza.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is also attending.
Phase two of the agreement envisions a new governing framework in Gaza, a security force composed of Palestinians and troops from Arab and Muslim countries, and foreign-funded reconstruction led by Arab states.
