The Director-General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Munir al-Barsh, stated that they are preparing to receive approximately 1,900 Palestinian detainees who will be released by the Israeli occupation tomorrow, Sunday, as part of the prisoner exchange deal. He noted that his ministry seeks to restore a minimum level of health services in the Strip.
According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Prison Service received orders to release Palestinian security prisoners as part of the exchange deal, and indicated that their transfer from five prisons to designated release facilities has begun. The newspaper added that the exchange deal includes the release of approximately 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 from Gaza arrested after October 7, 2023.
Al-Barsh said, in a statement to Al Jazeera, that they are preparing Nasser Hospital to receive the Palestinian detainees upon their arrival. He explained that medical staff will conduct comprehensive examinations to assess their health conditions. He noted that they will also receive a large number of bodies of martyrs, and he hoped that the bodies of health workers will be included among them.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Health in Gaza has requested that the files of Dr. Hussam Abu Safia and Dr. Marwan al-Hams be included among those released, saying, “They have given so much to their homeland, and it is time for them to return.”
Al-Barsh does not rule out the possibility that many of the prisoners suffer from skin diseases such as scabies, as a result of the poor detention conditions in Israeli prisons. He said that they will provide them with the necessary treatment despite the scarcity of resources and the shortage of medicines, and despite the destruction of hospitals and health infrastructure in Gaza.
