Witnesses and officials said that on Tuesday, Israeli commandos disguising as medical professionals and Muslim women stormed into a hospital in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants, one of whom was paralysed and lying in bed.
In one of the most unstable cities in the West Bank, Jenin, the Israeli military said that the three militants were eliminated in a coordinated undercover operation by the army, border police, and Shin Bet security service at the Ibn Sina hospital.
One of the men was identified by the military as Hamas member Muhammad Walid Jalamna, who it claimed was preparing an attack modelled after the group’s October 7 rampage across Gaza border. The military reported that they had found a pistol.
The two brothers, Basel and Mohammad Al-Ghazzawi, were said by the military to be members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad and the Jenin Brigade.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health verified the fatalities and urged the UN to ensure health facilities are protected. In a statement, it claimed that “the occupation is committing a new massacre inside hospitals.”
A group of roughly ten individuals, some of whom were carrying assault rifles, were seen pacing a hallway in hospital CCTV footage. The individuals were dressed in a variety of civilian and medical attire, with three of them sporting headscarves and women’s clothing.
“We do not want to turn hospitals into battlefields, with patients on the right and doctors and nurses on the left, and terrorists in the middle,” Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told soldiers close to Gaza.
