On Tuesday, IDF troops pulled a dramatic undercover operation at a hospital in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that saw the soldiers dress up as doctors and nurses to kill three Palestinian militants. The dramatic footage of the incident at Ibn Sina Hospital, doing rounds on social media, showed the troops dressed up as Muslims, sporting fake beards, and as women in hijabs to storm the hospital unidentified.
The operation took just 10 minutes and was carried out jointly by the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet security agency, and the counter-terrorism unit, reported The Times of Israel.
Earlier today, Israeli soldiers dressed as medics shot and killed three Palestinian men in a hospital in Jenin, occupied West Bank.
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Israel claims the men were fighters, however, International law prohibits the killing of combatants receiving medical attention if they are “not,… pic.twitter.com/nea33o82qR
The IDF troops entered the medical centre at 5:30 a.m. local time dressed as doctors, nurses, and Palestinian women. Some sported fake bears while others dressed as Muslim women, scouring the hospital corridors carrying guns. One was seen pushing a wheelchair and another carrying a baby car seat.
They headed to a room on the third floor and shot the three militants - one Hamas member and two members of Islamic Jihad. The commandos reportedly used guns with silencers in the raid. They left the building unscathed.
According to the IDF, the slain men were also Jenin Brigade fighters, an umbrella group of armed Palestinian factions in the West Bank city. They are 27-year-old Muhammad Jalamneh, who had been in contact with Hamas officials abroad. Jalamneh was "previously injured while preparing a car bomb attack, armed other operatives for shooting attacks, and planned a raid attack inspired by the events of October 7."
The two other men are brothers Muhammad and Basel Ghazawi.
While IDF has killed several Hamas men, Tuesday's incident has been tagged one of the boldest Israeli raids since the war began. Many also criticise Israel for the violation of international humanitarian law.
"The Israeli forces involved in the operation were dressed in civilian clothing and at least some were dressed as medical personnel, who enjoy protection under the law of armed conflict," Aurel Sari, a law professor at the University of Exeter in the UK, told CNN. "The killing of the three Palestinian men by Israeli forces dressed as medical personnel as part of a single attack therefore violates the prohibition of resort to perfidy."
However, IDF claims the three men had been "hiding in hospitals and using them as a base for planning terrorist activities and carrying out terror attacks" and were cynically using hospitals as shelters and "human shields." Hamas has previously denied such allegations.
