Palestinian detainees are being released in the devastated Gaza they barely knew
Palestinian detainees have spoken of their shock upon returning to a Gaza unrecognizable from the one from which they were taken, with some having been released from Israeli detention with stories of brutal treatment.
Gaza is gone now, shouted Shadi Abu Sido, 35, to the cameras as he exited a bus in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Monday. “It’s like a scene from a doomsday movie,” he said of the devastation.
He was later reunited with his wife and children, whom he said his captors falsely told him were dead.
Abu Sidou is among 1,718 Palestinian detainees who were released in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages, in addition to 250 security prisoners who were convicted of serious crimes including murder. The detainees, who have been captured since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, have not faced any charges. All 20 surviving Israeli hostages held in Gaza were released under the exchange.
Abu Sido, a Lebanese TV channel cameraman who was arrested in March 2024 while filming at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, told NBC News by phone that he was stripped, handcuffed and had a broken rib when he was first arrested 19 months ago. He says that in prison he was left handcuffed and blindfolded for weeks.
“No food, no bath, no talking, no lifting your head,” he said. He added that those who disobeyed were “hanged on the wall and beaten.”
Abu Sido said that the soldiers assaulted him because of his job, and one of the investigators repeatedly hit him in the eye until he lost his ability to operate the camera. He said he now needs specialized treatment that he fears will not be available in Gaza.
Maureen Kaki, an American-Palestinian aid worker from the medical NGO JALIA, was at Nasser Hospital on Monday when the released detainees arrived for medical examinations, most of them looking emaciated, limping and shrunken.
“Everyone got scabies,” she said in a video call Tuesday evening. “It wasn’t just one person who shared the same story of being tortured, withheld food, and being forced to drink toilet water since the ceasefire was announced. Everyone we spoke to had the same stories. It was truly terrifying.”
She said three people who had been imprisoned for months arrived at the hospital with new gunshot wounds that appeared to have “occurred within the past three weeks.”
Israel also returned the bodies of 120 detainees. On Thursday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza published photos of what it said were bodies returned with signs of torture and various toes and fingers.
The IDF did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the allegations of torture and ill-treatment. In a separate case in February, five Israeli reserve soldiers were accused of beating and stabbing a detainee accused in an indictment of breaking the man’s ribs, puncturing his lung, and tearing out his anus.
Dozens of the detainees released on Monday were health care workers. Among them was Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, director of Al Awda Hospital, who was arrested during a raid in December 2023 when he ignored Israeli army warnings to leave, choosing instead to stay with his patients.
Muhanna, after nearly two years in detention, addressed a crowd of people who had gathered to welcome him back to the hospital.
He added: “They directly targeted the medical staff.” “But we will never leave our hospitals.”
The Israeli military has previously defended attacks on hospitals, repeatedly saying that medical facilities in Gaza are used as operating bases for Hamas.
According to the Health Care Workers Monitoring Group, there are at least 115 health care workers from Gaza among thousands of Palestinians who remain in Israeli detention.
Among them is the prominent pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, who has been approved for release, according to his family. On Thursday, an Israeli court extended Abu Safiya’s detention for another six months.