Hamas leader Abdel Hakim Hanini said in a press statement that "the occupation's systematic targeting of freed prisoners, the latest of which was the assassination of six freed prisoners deported to Gaza, is nothing but evidence of the deep-seated Zionist hatred."
He continued, "The assassination of prisoners is part of a policy of revenge and systematic killing against those who resisted, persevered, and spent their lives in the dungeons of injustice." He noted that this crime "will be added to a long record of crimes and massacres committed by the Israeli army against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which will not be forgotten by the passage of time."
Hanini mourned the prisoners, "the martyrs: Naji Abayat, Bilal Zaraa, Mahmoud Abu Seria, Amjad Abu Arqoub, Riad Asalia, and Mahmoud Al-Dahbour."
Earlier, an informed Palestinian source said that six released prisoners were killed in two Israeli airstrikes on displacement camps in the southern and central Gaza Strip, most of whom had been deported to the Gaza Strip.
About 10,800 prisoners
For their part, the Palestine Liberation Organization's Prisoners' Affairs Commission, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, and the Addameer Association for Human Rights stated in a joint statement that "the number of prisoners in Israeli occupation detention centers has risen to approximately 10,800 (the previous statistic was 10,400)."
The statement indicated that this number "does not include detainees held in Israeli military camps (from Gaza)," explaining that "this number is the highest since the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000."
He reported that among the detainees were 50 women, including two from the Gaza Strip, in addition to 450 children, and 3,629 administrative detainees (without charge).
Since the start of ground fighting in the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023, the Israeli occupation forces have arrested thousands of Palestinians, including children, women, and health and civil defense personnel. A small number of these individuals were later released, bearing signs of torture and starvation.
Israeli human rights organizations have previously published several reports on the torture, starvation, and medical neglect suffered by Palestinian prisoners in Tel Aviv prisons. This contrasts with the Israeli detainees released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, who appeared to be in good health, and some praised the treatment of their captors.
Since October 7, 2023, with US support, Israel has been waging a war of genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
