From the Palestine Post, May 25, 1948:
These prisoners, for the most part, weren't fighters. They were workers at the electric plant.
Which means they were hostages, not prisoners of war.
And at least some of them remained hostages until a prisoner swap the end of the year. From December 1:
I don't know if there were any Arab workers at the Palestine Electric Company, but if there were, they sure didn't become hostages. Only the Jews.
