Palestinian medic and ambulance worker Tarek Rabie Safi, freed from an Israeli jail as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, said he was underfed and abused during almost a year in captivity.
Safi, a 39-year-old father of two, was released along with 368 other Palestinian detainees on Saturday, after Hamas freed three Israeli hostages from Gaza.
“I was held by the Israeli army in the Gaza ‘envelop’, which is Sde Teiman where I stayed for four months (and I was subjected to) torture of our bodies (physical torture) and hunger,” a gaunt-looking Safi said.
“(There was) no (decent) food, or drinks, or (medical) treatment. My arm was broken, and they did not treat me, and they did not get me checked by a doctor.”
Why detainee and not hostage? Could he have gone any sort of legal process in their court system after being detained? Did his family or legal rep have access to him? If not then he’s a hostage.
It’s also framed as Palestinian “says”. As if there is doubt while many off the Palestinian victims show clear signs of torture or are dangerously underfed. Good old “neutral free democratic” western press
Because they consider Israel to be a “legitimate” state while Palestinians are considered terrorists regardless of of they are Hamas or civilians. That means they call them detainees / POWs while captured israelis get called hostages. Very skewed language
In this case, calling them POWs might be the right move, because torturing POWs is a war crime. So maybe we let them have the POWs thing this time?
Need a new term. POW is specifically for enemy combatants, not civilians. Isreal might be OK with considering all Palestinians as enemy combatants but I don’t think they agree.