Undercover Israeli troops dressed as medical staff kill three militants in West Bank hospital raid, officials say
Originally Published: 30 JAN 24 04:37 ET Updated: 30 JAN 24 11:21 ET By Abeer Salman, CNN
Jerusalem (CNN) — Israeli special forces, dressed as civilians and medical staff, infiltrated the Ibn Sina hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday and killed three Palestinian men, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.
CCTV footage shared on social media appeared to show around a dozen commandos disguised as nurses, women in hijabs, and others, with one pushing a wheelchair and another carrying a baby car seat, as they stormed a hospital corridor carrying assault weapons.
Hamas said the men were Jenin Brigades fighters, an umbrella group of armed Palestinian factions in the West Bank city. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were terrorists linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and an Israeli government minister praised the operation.
The disguised special forces “infiltrated the hospital individually, headed to the third floor, and assassinated the young men,” Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported, citing sources from inside the hospital.
The IDF said it targeted Hamas fighter Mohammed Jalamneh who “had recently been involved in promoting significant terrorist activity and was hiding in the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin.”
Two brothers were also killed in the raid, the IDF said: “Mohammed Al-Ghazawi from the Jenin Camp, a terrorist operative of the Jenin Battalions who was involved in numerous attacks including firing at IDF soldiers in the area, and Basel Al-Ghazawi from the Jenin Camp, Mohammed’s brother, an Islamic Jihad terrorist organization operative involved in terror activities in the area.”
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared the CCTV footage on social media and praised the raid.
“I congratulate and strengthen the naval commando forces of the Israeli police on their impressive operation last night in cooperation with the IDF and the Shin Bet in the Jenin refugee camp, which led to the elimination of three terrorists,” Ben Gvir said alongside the video on X.
Hamas’s military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, claimed Jalamneh as a member and released a photo of him. It said he had been “martyred by the bullets of a special force from the occupation army that infiltrated Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin with his comrades Mohammed and Basil Ayman Al-Ghazawi,” calling them “fighting martyrs.”
The Ibn Sina hospital said Basil Al-Ghazawi had been receiving treatment for injuries sustained in a rocket explosion inside the cemetery of Jenin in October, when he was killed by the special forces Tuesday morning. The hospital said the three men were sleeping at the time of the attack.
There were no reports of other casualties in the raid.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned the attack and the targeting of a health center and called on the UN General Assembly and NGOs to provide the necessary protection for medical treatment centers and emergency crews.
“This crime comes after dozens of crimes committed by the occupation forces against treatment centers and crews. International law provides general and special protection for civilian sites, including hospitals,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
