The pale, emaciated state of Gilad Shalit as he emerged from more than five years in captivity in Gaza has brought new scrutiny of Hamas detention practices.
The Israeli army sergeant was declared healthy after a quick medical check on arrival in Israel, but there were also reports he had fainted on a helicopter ride to a military base where he was met by his family and Israeli leaders.
In an initial interview on Egyptian television, after being handed over by Hamas, but before transfer to Israel, Shalit gave few details of his treatment. However, his appearance added credence to Israeli fears that he had been confined in cramped conditions with little sunlight since being captured by militants allied to the Islamist movement in raid on an Israeli checkpoint in 2006. Throughout his captivity the Red Cross was denied access to him to check on his condition.
Photo: Reuters
Hamas has recently been criticized for its treatment of Palestinian detainees.
A youth activist detained in August, Mohammed Matar, told Human Rights Watch that he was kept in a cell too small to allow him to lie down to sleep and given food “that was so bad that I threw up when I tried to eat it.”
Palestinian human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the security services in Gaza of arbitrary detentions and torture, and they have complained that Gaza courts rarely reject prosecutions built on confessions extracted under torture.
Human Rights Watch also said Hamas authorities had carried out eight executions by hanging and by firing squad since coming to power in Gaza four years ago.
While welcoming the prisoner exchange, Amnesty International criticized both Hamas and Israel for their treatment of detainees. The group said prisoners from Gaza had been deprived of contact with their families for several years.
“The fact that they are detained on Israeli territory makes it difficult, if not impossible, for their families to visit them, as the Israeli authorities often refuse to grant them travel permits. Israel suspended family visits for all prisoners from Gaza in June 2007 in a punitive policy that penalizes both the detainees and their families,” Amnesty said in a statement.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike since last month, in protest against punitive treatment by the Israeli prison authorities, some of which were imposed in retaliation for Hamas’ refusal to allow the Red Cross or family to visit Shalit.
Amnesty also said the proposed exile abroad of 41 Palestinian prisoners as part of the exchange deal could constitute a violation of the Geneva conventions which “prohibit an occupying power from forcibly transferring or deporting people from an occupied territory.”
QATAR
Fifteen Palestinian prisoners released as part of a swap deal that saw Shalit freed arrived in Qatar yesterday, a Palestinian diplomatic official said.
The freed prisoners landed in Doha on a specially chartered Qatari airplane at 3am and were greeted by Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Mahmoud, the official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 15 Palestinians — among the first batch of 477 detainees freed —were taken to a hotel and were expected to undergo medical check-ups later in the day.
Additional reporting by AFP
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