Israeli forces disguised as medics shoot dead militants in West Bank hospital raid

Footage showed Israeli troops disguised as medical staff during raid inside hospital
Josh Salisbury30 January 2024

Israeli forces disguised themselves as civilian women and medical workers to kill three Palestinian militants inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the wards of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the town of Jenin and condemned the raid.

The Israeli military claimed the militants were using the hospital as a hideout.

It identified one of the men as Mohammad Walid Jalamna, a Hamas member who it claimed was planning an attack inspired by the Hamas terror attack across Gaza's border into Israel on October 7.

The military 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.

PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-HOSPITAL
UGC/AFP via Getty Images

The Palestinian health ministry called on the United Nations to guarantee protection for health centres. “The occupation is committing a new massacre inside hospitals," it said in a statement.

CCTV footage from the hospital showed a group of about ten people, dressed variously in civilian clothes and medical uniforms. 

It included three people in headscarves and women's clothing, pacing through a corridor, armed with assault rifles and moving into the hospital.

The hospital's director, Dr. Naji Nazzal said the Israeli team had entered the hospital at around 5.30am (3.30am GMT) and killed the three men.

"They executed the three men as they slept in the room," he told the Reuters news agency. "They executed them in cold blood by firing bullets directly into their heads in the room where they were being treated."

The Israeli military said the three had been hiding in the hospital and said it was “another example of the cynical use of civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and human shields by terrorist organisations". 

Hamas has denied using hospitals and civilians as shelter.

It came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied reports of a possible cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza during an event in the West Bank on Tuesday, repeating his vow to keep fighting until "absolute victory" over Hamas.

"We will not end this war without achieving all of our goals," he said. 

"We will not withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists," he added, referring to Hamas' main demands.

The former PM was holding talks in Oman after indicating that the Government could bring forward recognition of a Palestinian state in order to encourage peace.

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