State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman stated Tuesday that he would consider an investigation into the release of al-Shifa Hospital Director Muhammed Abu Salmiya and other prisoners from Gaza.
"According to the security officials, serious crimes were committed at Shifa Hospital. Naturally, the director of the hospital, who was captured by the IDF in November, bears responsibility. His release this week, along with the release of other terrorists, was accompanied by an exchange of accusations between ministers at the political level and between them and senior officials in the security system," Englman stated.
He added that "the discourse between political and security officials that is taking place on the subject raises concerns that no systematic work has been done that examined all aspects of the release. Therefore, I intend to ask the Prime Minister for the investigations to be placed on his desk regarding the release of the terrorists."
"After we review the investigations, we will examine the need to launch an audit on the matter. It is essential to make sure that the decision-making procedures in this matter are not a symptom of a deep-rooted problem in the decision-making procedures in security matters," Engeman said.
Abu Salmiya was arrested in November and charged by the IDF and security echelon with using his hospital as "terror infrastructure" over the course of years, allowing terrorists to operate from within it.
Following his release, Abu Salmiya called for the rest of the terrorists to be released as well, saying: "There needs to be a clear statement by the resistance and the Arab nations in order to release the prisoners. The prisoners need to be present, on the table, in every negotiation until the prisons are emptied."
In recent months, many arrested terrorists have been quietly released back to Gaza, allegedly due to the lack of prison cells available in Israel.