Sixty Palestinians detained by Israel return to Gaza, describe abuses

The freed men, some in wheelchairs, describe horrific abuses in Israeli detention.Sixty Palestinians detained by Israel were returned to Gaza, arriving at a hospital in Khan Younis frail, injured and, in several cases, unable to walk.The men were brought by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Nasser Medical Complex for examination on Monday, where crowds of relatives and medical teams greeted them.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘Back from the dead’: The continuing agony over Gaza’s 9,500 missing peoplelist 2 of 3Palestinians hope international peace force can rebuild Gazalist 3 of 3Gaza student tops national exams despite war and displacementend of listThis is the largest prisoner release since the first phase of the “ceasefire” in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which took effect in October.They are among nearly 1,300 people from Gaza held by Israel as “unlawful combatants”, according to Israeli rights group HaMoked. Israel said the men were released after interrogations determined they were “no longer security suspects”.Prisoners released from Israeli custody arrive at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza, July 27, 2026 [Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty]Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza, said the detainees were labourers in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory before October 7, 2023.He added that conditions in Gaza had deteriorated under the Israeli blockade to a point where the men would struggle to find food and shelter, which would impact their recovery.Abdullah Kilani was among those released from Israeli jail. He said he was seized in December 2024 on Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza and held for more than 18 months, during which he and another detainee were shot.“The conditions were extremely harsh,” he told Anadolu. “I still can’t believe I’m free.”A second man, who gave his name as Abu Ibrahim, told Anadolu prisoners were kept seated on bare concrete or iron slabs and he was injured when guards beat him with rifle butts.