The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Monday blamed National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the government in general for ignoring months of warnings that huge amounts of additional detainee space was needed to absorb the thousands upon thousands of new Palestinian detainees connected to the ongoing war.
More specifically, the agency said that it strongly opposed releasing detainees, as it was forced to do by existing Israeli law, but that without sufficient detainee space, there was no choice.
Slowing arrest pace
In addition, the Shin Bet warned that it and the IDF have slowed the pace of new arrests because of a lack of space to absorb any new detainees.
Finally, the Shin Bet said that it has been releasing dangerous detainees as obligated by existing law on a sliding scale, by grading detainees on their level of danger.
It said it has been releasing detainees who might have ties to terror first in order to avoid releasing others who were actual combat fighters for Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Further, the Shin Bet said that Shifa Hospital Director Muhammad Abu Salmiya was considered dangerous, but less dangerous than these fighters, which was why he was included in the current round of releasees.