Israeli forces have killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank – stoking fears of an escalation in violence.
CCTV showed members of a border police counterterrorism unit and those from Israeli security forces, known as the Shin Bet, entering the Ibn Sina Hospital on the outskirts of a refugee camp in the city of Jenin, some disguised as medics or in women’s clothes. Around a dozen agents, wearing different types of civilian clothing could be identified, most carrying machine guns.
Armed Israeli soldiers disguised as doctors storm West Bank hospital
Israeli forces have killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank – stoking fears of an escalation in violence.
CCTV showed members of a border police counterterrorism unit and those from Israeli security forces, known as the Shin Bet, entering the Ibn Sina Hospital on the outskirts of a refugee camp in the city of Jenin, some disguised as medics or in women’s clothes. Around a dozen agents, wearing different types of civilian clothing could be identified, most carrying machine guns.
According to Israeli media, the forces entered the third floor of the hospital and shot three Palestinians with silenced weapons. The whole operation is said to have lasted 10 minutes. Hours later, a bloodied blue hospital pillow pierced by a bullet remained on a bed, while a folding bed nearby was also stained with blood.
The Israeli military said one of those killed had a pistol, and that the incident showed militants were using civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and “human shields”. Israeli forces have long claimed that Palestinian hospitals are used as hideouts by militant groups, primarily in Gaza, and that hospital complexes have been used to store weapons and plan attacks.
Hospital officials and Hamas have previously denied such allegations. The Ministry of Health for the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, accused Israel of carrying out a “new massacre inside hospitals
Israeli forces have killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank – stoking fears of an escalation in violence.
CCTV showed members of a border police counterterrorism unit and those from Israeli security forces, known as the Shin Bet, entering the Ibn Sina Hospital on the outskirts of a refugee camp in the city of Jenin, some disguised as medics or in women’s clothes. Around a dozen agents, wearing different types of civilian clothing could be identified, most carrying machine guns.
According to Israeli media, the forces entered the third floor of the hospital and shot three Palestinians with silenced weapons. The whole operation is said to have lasted 10 minutes. Hours later, a bloodied blue hospital pillow pierced by a bullet remained on a bed, while a folding bed nearby was also stained with blood.
The Israeli military said one of those killed had a pistol, and that the incident showed militants were using civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and “human shields”. Israeli forces have long claimed that Palestinian hospitals are used as hideouts by militant groups, primarily in Gaza, and that hospital complexes have been used to store weapons and plan attacks.
Hospital officials and Hamas have previously denied such allegations. The Ministry of Health for the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, accused Israel of carrying out a “new massacre inside hospitals”.
The Israeli military identified one of the men as Mohammad Walid Jalamna, a Hamas member who, it said, was planning an attack inspired by the Hamas-led rampage across Gaza’s border into Israel on 7 October, an attack in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 240 people taken hostage. The military said Jalamna “used the hospital as a hiding place and therefore was neutralised”.
According to Israeli media, the forces entered the third floor of the hospital and shot three Palestinians with silenced weapons. The whole operation is said to have lasted 10 minutes. Hours later, a bloodied blue hospital pillow pierced by a bullet remained on a bed, while a folding bed nearby was also stained with blood.
The Israeli military said one of those killed had a pistol, and that the incident showed militants were using civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and “human shields”. Israeli forces have long claimed that Palestinian hospitals are used as hideouts by militant groups, primarily in Gaza, and that hospital complexes have been used to store weapons and plan attacks.
The Israeli military identified one of the men as Mohammad Walid Jalamna, a Hamas member who, it said, was planning an attack inspired by the Hamas-led rampage across Gaza’s border into Israel on 7 October, an attack in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 240 people taken hostage. The military said Jalamna “used the hospital as a hiding place and therefore was neutralised”.
The Israeli military also said the two others, the brothers Basel Al-Ghazzawi and Mohammad Al-Ghazzawi, belonged to the Jenin Brigade and the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
Tensions have soared in the occupied West Bank since the 7 October attack. More than 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops – and armed Israeli settlers – in the West Bank since then, according to the health ministry in Ramallah. Nearly 3,000 Palestinians are said to have been arrested. Palestinians from the West Bank have killed at least 10 Israelis in attacks in the West Bank and Israel in the same period.