Israeli commandos, disguised as medical workers and Muslim women, conducted a deadly raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank.
The operation resulted in the killing of three Palestinian militants, including one who was lying paralyzed in bed. Witnesses and authorities confirmed the incident, which took place at the Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin, a volatile city in the West Bank. The Israeli military described the action as a joint undercover operation involving the army, Shin Bet security service, and border police.
The military identified one of the slain militants as Mohammad Walid Jalamna, a Hamas member allegedly planning an attack inspired by the Hamas-led rampage into Israel from Gaza on October 7. The operation also targeted two brothers, Basel Al-Ghazzawi and Mohammad Al-Ghazzawi, associated with the Jenin Brigade and the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the deaths and condemned the incident, calling on the United Nations to ensure protection for health centers.
A group of around ten people, some dressed casually and others in medical uniforms, as well as three men and a woman armed with assault weapons, were seen strolling along a hallway in the hospital's closed-circuit television footage. Israeli Defense Minister Herzi Halevi spoke out over the issue, saying that hospitals should not be used as battlegrounds. But he was certain that hospitals would not serve as safe havens for terrorists.
The hospital's director, Dr. Naji Nazzal, provided details of the Israeli team's entry into the hospital at around 5:30 a.m. They reached the third floor and entered the ward where the men were sleeping, subsequently executing them while they slept. The victims included Basil Ayman Al-Ghazzawi, who had been receiving treatment for a spinal injury that had paralyzed him since October 25.
The violence in the West Bank has been on the rise since Hamas' attack in October and Israel's invasion of Gaza that followed, and this episode just served to heighten tensions even further. There have been heavy battles in Jenin in particular, with the Israelis attacking the Palestinian refugee camp there many times.