Israel ‘ hit squad’ kills three in West Bank hospital operation

Iforces disguised as medical staff and civilians have shot dead three Palestinians inside a hospital in the city of Jenin in the West Bank.

The killings were carried out by undercover operatives while the men were sleeping at Ibn Sina Hospital, according to statements issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Israeli army yesterday.

“This morning, three young men were martyred by the bullets of the occupation forces who stormed the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin and shot them,” the Ministry of Health in Ramallah said.

The Israeli army said its troops had neutralised the men, who were hiding in the hospital and belonged to a Hamas terrorist cell.

Security camera footage circulated online appeared to show about a dozen undercover personnel, including three in women’s clothing and two dressed as medical staff, pacing through a corridor of the hospital with assault rifles.

The Israeli military identified one of the men killed as Mohammad Jalamneh, 27, who it claimed was planning an imminent attack and had been transferring weapons and ammunition to other members.

The two other men killed, brothers Basil and Mohammad Ghazawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were involved in attacks, the military alleged.

“A gun was found on a wanted person, which was confiscated by the forces,” the army statement added.

Hamas said in a statement that the Israeli army’s crimes will not go unanswered, adding that the killings are a continuation of the occupation’s ongoing crimes against their people from Gaza to Jenin.

One of the men was injured and in bed when he was killed, said the Palestinian armed group.

Hamas confirmed that Jalamneh was one of its members. The Jenin Brigade, which includes a number of Palestinian armed resistance groups, said in a statement that two of the three men were members of Islamic Jihad. Basil was injured by missile fragments following an Israeli drone attack on October 25 targeting a group of men near the Jenin camp cemetery and had been receiving treatment at the hospital for three months, according to Al Jazeera sources.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “in the strongest terms the occupation forces’ assassination of the three young men”.

Crowds thronged the streets of Jenin as the funeral ceremony for the three men was underway. They were to be buried at a cemetery in the Jenin refugee camp.