Speaking at a ceremony in Jerusalem Tuesday, state comptroller Matanyahu Englman said that responsibility for the imprisonment of the Nukhba terrorists should transition from the IDF to the IPS.
"We will conduct a review to ensure the safety of prison staff guarding these terrorists," Englman said.
"According to security services, severe crimes were carried out at Shifa Hospital. Naturally, the director of the hospital, captured by the IDF in November, bears responsibility for this. His release this week, alongside other terrorists, was accompanied by mutual accusations among ministers and senior security officials. The discourse between state authorities and the security system on this issue raises concerns that a thorough examination of all aspects of the terrorists' release was not conducted. Therefore, I intend to request reports from the Prime Minister regarding the release of the terrorists. After reviewing these reports, we will consider the necessity of investigating this matter. It is important to ensure that the decision-making process in this regard is not indicative of a deeper issue in security decision-making procedures," said Englman.
Regarding the transfer of responsibility for terrorist prisoners from the IDF to the Prison Service, the comptroller recalled a report published on this topic and stated, "The November 2022 report revealed sexual harassment of female soldiers by terrorist prisoners and that the command staff does not provide the necessary support to guards dealing with these terrorist prisoners. After meeting with female guards who served in all prisons holding terrorist prisoners, it was found that 38% of them reported being sexually harassed. With the transfer of guarding Nukhba terrorists, some of whom were involved in serious sexual crimes, from the IDF to the Prison Service, I expect the IPS to learn lessons from the report that was published. I intend to conduct a review to ensure that all prison guards are safe."
Three months ago, the comptroller mentioned that the IDF had ordered officer cadets to guard terrorists despite the November 2022 report. Englman explained that "this contradicts our report on the safety of female soldiers, published just over a year ago, and shows that the lessons from this alarming report have not been learned."
