Jenin hospital staff in shock after disguised Israeli troops kill patients in their beds

Israel's military confirmed the operation at Ibn Sina Hospital which it said targeted militants

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Israeli soldiers left behind a gruesome scene at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, after killing three young Palestinians while they were sleeping in their beds.

The National spoke to hospital staff, who were still in shock after witnessing the raid, and visited the room of Bassel Ghazzawi, 18, who was killed alongside two others by Israeli troops wearing disguises.

By Tuesday night, his body had been removed from the bed in which he was shot dead.

Uneaten food and a copy of the Quran sat next to his bed.

His killing was the work of Israeli special forces who entered the hospital in disguise, armed with assault rifles and silenced pistols, in an operation confirmed by the Israeli army.

Security footage showed at least three soldiers dressed in women's clothing and two disguised as medical staff.

Staff at the hospital told The National of the terrifying moments the Israeli soldiers approached them before entering the hospital ward and shooting dead the three Palestinians.

A female nurse was grabbed by a man dressed as an elderly religious leader who hit her while pointing a gun in her face, two of her colleagues said.

He then rushed into the room of the patient along with other troops, who were also in disguise.

The troops then shot all three Palestinians in the head at point-blank range.

The nurse told The National she was still in a state of shock and has not been able to tell her friends and family.

Two other male nurses on shift also said they were still in shock on Tuesday night.

One man who was visiting the hospital to get treatment for his two-year-old son said the ward was full at the time of the attack.

The man, who is originally from Gaza but had left the enclave before October 7, said that Israeli soldiers had thrust a gun in his face. He described being shocked to see them there.

“In Gaza you see them in the air, but here you see them for real,” he told The National.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa named the three dead as Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, Mohammed Ghazzawi, 23, and Mr Ghazzawi.

The Israeli army said the operation was targeting Mr Jalamneh, who it alleged was planning an attack on Israel and had been in contact with Hamas headquarters abroad.

“Jalamneh planned to carry out a terror attack in the immediate future and used the hospital as a hiding place, and therefore was neutralised,” the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military said the other two Palestinians killed were also militants from Jenin who had been involved in recent attacks. One of them was a member of the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group while the other was part of a group of gunmen in Jenin, it said.

The Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry confirmed the incident had taken place, saying: “This morning, three young men were martyred by the bullets of the occupation [Israeli] forces, who stormed the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin and shot them.”

Bassel Ghazzawi had been in the hospital for nearly four months after being hit by fragments of a missile fired from an Israeli drone, causing paralysis in his lower limbs, Wafa reported.

“What happened was the assassination of a wounded man who was unable to move or manage his needs on his own. We, as a medical institution, guarantee the right of all patients to obtain treatment, regardless of their backgrounds,” said Dr Tawfiq Al Shobaki, the hospital's medical director.

Jenin's health director, Wissam Subeihat, called the incident “a crime against hospitals” and said Israel had “violated the sanctity of the doctor’s and nurse’s uniforms and the sanctity of the hospital, which is supposed to be a safe place”.

On October 7, Hamas launched a raid into southern Israel, leading to a retaliatory assault on the Gaza Strip and a surge in violence in the occupied West Bank. During the past month, Israel has killed at least 60 Palestinians in the West Bank.