Members of the Israeli forces attack a West Bank hospital disguised as doctors and patients

AFP Jenin

Jenin

Updated Tuesday, January 30, 2024-12:37

Israeli forces on Tuesday sent a commando disguised as medical personnel and civilians to a hospital in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, to execute three men presented as "terrorists", one of whom had links to Hamas. At least three Palestinians were reportedly killed.

In a surveillance video published by the Palestinian authorities on social networks, a dozen men and women equipped with weapons of war and disguised as medical personnel or civilians entered a care unit and pointed their weapons at those present. Some masked members of the commando carried a folded wheelchair or a baby seat.

It is the first time since 2015 that Israeli forces have launched this type of operation in a hospital in the West Bank

, where tensions are rising against the backdrop of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza.

An AFP journalist saw the bodies of the three men, mourned by their families, inside the Avicenna hospital in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups. A stretcher, on which a pillow pierced by a bullet was stained with blood, left little doubt about the nature of the operation.

Beyond, a mattress had traces of blood, some of which had splattered on the floor and walls.

In a joint statement, the Israeli military, internal security and police said that together they had "neutralized" Mohammad Jalamnah, a "Hamas terrorist," as well as "two other terrorists," Bassel and Ayman Ghazawi.

Hamas confirmed Jalamnah's affiliation. And Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian Islamist movement, claimed the affiliation of the two Ghazawi brothers. The funerals of the latter two were organized at the end of the morning.

"A group of members of the occupation forces dressed in civilian clothes entered and killed" the three men with weapons fitted with silencers, Dr. Naji Nazzal, medical director of the establishment, told AFP.

"The operation took place in the rehabilitation department on the third floor, where Bassel Ghazawi had been receiving treatment since October 25," added the doctor, specifying that the man "could no longer move at all."