Israeli commandos disguised as nurses and doctors raided a West Bank hospital and killed three Hamas terrorists in a lightning-fast, undercover operation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the operation took place on Tuesday, after Palestinian media published CCTV video footage showing people dressed as healthcare workers and Muslim civilians entering a hospital in Jenin with assault rifles.
The Israeli army said that a team of Israeli army and police counter-terrorism commandos entered the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin at night and killed a person they determined to be a Hamas member and two other suspects.
The IDF said 27-year-old Mohammed Jalamneh “had contacts with Hamas headquarters abroad” and was planning a terrorist attack “in the near future.”
Mr. Jalamneh was in the hospital to sit with a friend who was recovering after being injured in an IDF drone strike on a cemetery in Jenin last year.
Undercover commandos entered the hospital, shot the three men with silenced guns, and immediately left.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted unnamed hospital employees as saying that the commandos entered the hospital one by one, disguised.
CCTV footage published by Palestinian media shows the assault team gathering in the entrance foyer of the hospital at the start of the raid.
The first two commandos, one a man in a white doctor’s coat and face mask, the other a woman in a headscarf, pass through the room, prowling across the tiled floor, their shortened rifles raised high.
Behind them, another man wearing a medical gown carries a rifle in one hand and a wheelchair in the other.
In total, about a dozen commandos (all disguised as healthcare workers or civilians) appear to have gathered at the hospital.
A man dressed as a devout Muslim, wearing a white prayer hat and long brown robe, carries a suppressed gun and with hand signals directs the commandos to spread out and block the corridors and doors.
In the background, several commandos, some wearing headscarves, point their guns at a civilian kneeling against a wall with his hands raised high.
The civilian’s jacket is removed before his hands are tied behind his back, and the jacket is placed over his head as a makeshift hood.
Bags of equipment are brought in and stowed away, while one of the commandos dons a balaclava before advancing further into the depths of the hospital.
Less than a minute later, the commandos moved into action and the corridor was cleared except for the hooded civilian.
A second video clip released by Palestinian media showed the rooms where three Palestinians were killed.
Two bloody chairs are shown before the camera pans to a hospital bed, also covered in blood. The bullet hole in the pillow indicates that the target was killed where he lay.
The Israeli military later released a picture of a gun with two spare magazines that it said was seized during the operation.
It was reported that there were 10 more people in the ward where the raid took place, but they were not harmed.
The IDF claimed that Jalamneh transferred weapons and ammunition to “terrorists” in order to “encourage shooting attacks” and reportedly planned a raid attack inspired by the Hamas massacre on 7 October.
The other two people killed in the raid were identified as Mohammed Ghazawi, who was affiliated with the Jenin Battalions and allegedly opened fire on Israeli troops in the area, and his brother Basil, who joined the Islamic Jihad.
A deputy director of the hospital was quoted as saying that Mr. Ghazawi had been in and out of the hospital since October, injured and suffering partial paralysis of the lower part of his body.
International humanitarian law prohibits parties from using hospital gowns or Red Cross insignia for military purposes.
Base from which terrorist attacks will be launched
The IDF accused the suspects of using the hospital as a base to carry out terrorist attacks.
Israel’s special forces have relied on disguise in their operations for decades.
In 1972, commandos disguised themselves as technicians in white overalls and raided a hijacked plane in Tel Aviv, freeing the passengers, killing two terrorists and capturing two others.
But perhaps most famously, a year later, commandos disguised as romantic couples, complete with wigs, dresses and bags, infiltrated Beirut to assassinate senior leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Young Ehud Barak, who would later become the prime minister of Israel, also took part in the raid following the Munich Olympics massacre.
The refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin has been the focal point of IDF clashes with Palestinians for months.
At least 58 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year, according to human rights groups.