By SCM Foreign Desk
GAZA CITY — Israeli military authorities released 60 Palestinian detainees back into the Gaza Strip on Monday, including 20 cross-border laborers who were caught in Israel when war erupted and 40 detainees held at the Ketziot Prison in the southern Negev desert.
The group arrived at southern Gaza border crossings, where family members and medical teams met them. Several of the released men showed signs of physical exhaustion and weight loss, and medical workers quickly transferred several individuals to nearby facilities for evaluation, according to local Palestinian health officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The release marks another incremental turn in the ongoing crisis over the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli military custody and civilian prisons since the outbreak of hostilities on Oct. 7, 2023.
Among those freed were 20 Palestinian workers who held valid permits to work inside Israel prior to the war. On the day Hamas launched its attack, thousands of Gazan laborers in Israel found their permits revoked overnight. Many were subsequently rounded up, interrogated, and placed in temporary military holding facilities or formal prisons without formal criminal charges.
”We were working legally when everything stopped,” said one of the released workers, who asked not to be named due to safety concerns. “Suddenly, we were cut off from our families in Gaza and placed into detention without knowing when we would go home or what was happening to our houses.”
The remaining 40 individuals in the group were released from Ketziot Prison—often referred to simply as the Negev prison—a vast facility located near the Egyptian border.
The Negev prison has long served as a central holding complex for Palestinians held under administrative detention, a procedure that permits holding individuals without trial or public charges.
Since the war began, Israel’s military and prison services have arrested thousands of Palestinians from both the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. In Gaza, military operations led to sweeping detentions of residents suspected of links to militant groups, as well as civilians caught in combat zones.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, have repeatedly raised concerns regarding the treatment of Palestinian detainees.
Reports from released prisoners have described harsh confinement conditions, overcrowding, restricted access to food and medical care, and extended periods of isolation.
Israeli military officials have consistently denied allegations of systematic abuse, stating that all detainees are treated in accordance with international law and that detentions are necessary for security screening and counterterrorism operations.
However, the legal framework governing Gazans in detention was altered early in the conflict under amendments to Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, enabling authorities to detain individuals for extended periods before seeing a judge or gaining access to legal representation.
For the families receiving their relatives in Gaza, the reunions bring relief mixed with severe anxiety over the devastated state of the enclave. Many released detainees returned to find their home neighborhoods altered beyond recognition or their families displaced.
”Every release brings a moment of hope, but the conditions inside the prisons remain a matter of grave concern,” said a representative from the Palestinian Prisoners Society in a statement following the transfer.
International diplomats and aid agencies continue to push for greater transparency regarding detainee lists and regular access by the Red Cross to all holding centers in the Negev and across Israel.
