After the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006 in a cross-border terrorist attack in the Kerem Shalom area of southern Israel, Israel arrested many Hamas officials and ministers, hoping to use them as negotiating pawns towards obtaining Shalit’s release. Now, as he prepares to mark his fourth year in captivity without even a single humanitarian visit, Israel has released another of the Hamas ministers after remaining in prison for almost three years.

Former Hamas Minister of Prisoner Affairs Safi Khaba was released by Israel on Wednesday receiving a hero’s welcome, received by senior Hamas officials in Gaza along with family members of friends. Khaba served as a minister in the government of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in 2006, when Shalit was abducted.

Also released and ‘exiled’ to Gaza was Ahmad Said Sabah, whose family lives near Tulkarem in Shomron. The terms of his release compelled him to move to Gaza, and not return to the “West Bank”.

Family members told PA media officials that after almost ten years in prison, it is unjustifiable that while they waited for Ahmad at a checkpoint in the Chevron area, Israel opted to oust him to Gaza under a new military regulation.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)