Disguised Israeli Forces Storm West Bank Hospital, Kill 3

Undercover forces were dressed as women, medics in expansion of violence
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 30, 2024 9:30 AM CST
Disguised Israeli Forces Storm West Bank Hospital, Kill 3
A Palestinian films bloodstains in a room at Ibn Sina Hospital following a deadly Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin on Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medical workers stormed a hospital Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the territory from the war in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the wards of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the town of Jenin. The ministry called on the international community to pressure Israel's military to halt such operations in hospitals. Hospital spokesperson Tawfiq al-Shobaki said there was no exchange of fire, indicating that it was a targeted killing. He said the Israelis attacked doctors, nurses, and hospital security during the raid. "What happened is a precedent," he said, per the AP. "There was never an assassination inside a hospital. There were arrests and assaults, but not an assassination."

The military said the militants were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. It alleged that one of those targeted in the raid had transferred weapons and ammunition to others for a planned attack, purportedly inspired by the Hamas assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Footage said to be security camera video from the hospital that circulated on social media showed about a dozen undercover forces, most armed, dressed as women with Muslim headscarves, or as hospital staff in scrubs or white doctors' coats. The AP hasn't independently verified the footage, but it's consistent with AP reporting.

The military said in Tuesday's hospital raid, forces killed Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, who it said was planning an imminent attack. The two other men killed, brothers Basel and Mohammed Ghazawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were involved in attacks, the military claimed. The military's statement said Jalamneh was armed with a pistol, but it made no mention of an exchange of fire. Hamas claimed the three men as members, calling the operation "a cowardly assassination." Al-Shobaki said Basel Ghazawi had been a patient in the hospital since October with partial paralysis. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X