Following the widespread condemnation of the Shin Bet for the release of the director of Shifa Hospital on Monday, the Shin Bet released a statement trying to place the blame for the release on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“Recently,” the Shin Bet wrote, “a decision was made to change the designation of the ‘Sdeh Teiman’ facility so that detainees will be held there for short periods only. Accordingly, the Shin Bet and the IDF, following the discussions held under the chairmanship of the National Security Council, were required to act to release dozens of prisoners in order to free up prison cells. For about a year now, the Shin Bet has been warning in every possible forum, in writing and orally, about the prison crisis and the need to increase the number of prison cells in light of the need to arrest terrorists in Israel and the Gaza Strip. The prison crisis leads to the daily cancellation of arrests of terror suspects and causes direct harm to state security. Arrests were even canceled last night, including the arrest of wanted suspects planning terror activity against Israeli citizens.”

“Unfortunately, these requests, written and verbal, which were forwarded to all the relevant parties, first and foremost the national security minister, who is in charge of this, were not addressed, and in practice, the number of prison cells did not increase as needed.”

“Following this, the Shin Bet objected to the release of Palestinian detainees from Yehudah and Shomron, from whom there is an immediate danger, and Nukhbah terrorists involved in fighting and harming Israeli civilians. Therefore, in light of the state’s need, as determined by the National Security Council, it was decided to release a certain number of prisoners from the Strip, who pose a lesser danger, and this after examining the danger posed by all the prisoners.”

“Despite the fact that the director of the Shifa hospital meets all the requirements regarding the level of danger he poses compared to other prisoners – the incident will be investigated. Without a choice, without an immediate solution to the prison crisis, arrests will continue to be canceled and detainees will continue to be released,” the Shin Bet warned.

The Israel Prison Services (IPS) then hit back, releasing a statement that the release of the Shifa Hospital director was approved by the IDF and Shin Bet and was not due to the “prison crisis.”

The statement read: “Unfortunately, due to false publications, we are forced to reveal the release order of the director of Shifa Hospital. Contrary to the false claims that have been published in recent hours, those who made the decision to release the Shifa Hospital director were the IDF and the Shin Bet – and not IPS. IPS does not make decisions on its own to release prisoners of any kind but is only entrusted with incarcerating prisoners. In addition, the director of the hospital was not released due to the ‘prison crisis;’ he was released from his cell at Nafha prison.”

In turn, Ben-Gvir then accused the Shin Bet of wanting to improve the conditions of terrorists’ prison sentences.

In a video statement, Ben-Gvir said: “My dispute with the Shin Bet is not whether there is room in the prison or there is no room in prison. The Shin Bet wants to improve the conditions of the terrorists we reduced, and if not – to release them.”

“And I say,” Ben-Gvir added: “it will not happen under any circumstances. While we have hostages hungry for bread in Gaza, the terrorists will not enjoy deluxe conditions.”

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that he was unaware of the release of the Shifa director, saying that the “release of security prisoners is under the jurisdiction of the Shin Bet and Israel Prison Services and is not subject to the approval of the defense minister.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)