By Chantal Da Silva and Matteo Moschella - NBC News
In the face of the unprecedented crisis triggered by the shocking Hamas attack, doctors and nurses in Israel are now embroiled in a "heated" debate: Could and should they "treat terrorists"?
After news spread that wounded Hamas militants were admitted to Israeli public hospitals to be treated alongside Israeli civilians wounded in their attack, a video circulated in which dozens of angry people gathered at the entrance to a hospital in the south of the country. The incident, based on unsubstantiated rumors, spread widely on social media as a reflection of a broader national debate.
[We enter a hospital in southern Israel attacked by Hamas: "Sometimes we cry, but we keep going"]
At a hospital in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, there were mixed feelings among patients and medical workers who spoke to NBC News on Thursday, the sixth day of war between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli doctor Jacob Ablin.Chantal Da Silva
"Among the staff, it's a very controversial topic," said Dr. Jacob Ablin, chief of internal medicine at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center. "For some, emotions are running high and a lot of people would get very angry and not want to treat terrorists," he added.
Ablin, 59, said he had "no doubt" about whether he would treat a Hamas militant. "For me there is no doubt. This is what we do. This is my profession."
"It's not my job to punish people"
It would not be the first time he would have to help a Hamas militant, he already did it during his military service as a doctor in the Israeli army, Ablin explained. "It was never a question. It's just what you do," he said.
"It's not my job to punish people. I think those people should be punished as harshly as possible, but not by me," he said.
[Gaza hospitals face tsunami of wounded without medical supplies or power due to Israeli shelling]
Ablin said he heard the news about the group protesting outside a hospital and called it a "very violent incident."
Dr. Ronni Gamzu, director general of Sheba Medical Center, stated that they were not treating any Hamas militants and noted that should any need be treated, they would be expected to receive medical care within the national prison system, and not in local hospitals in Israel.
"This is not new," he said of the protocol and said that the national prison service has "for years" the necessary infrastructure to provide medical care to those in its custody.
However, Gamzu clarified that if the hospital were asked to treat Hamas militants, "we know what our role is... We do what we have to do."
Following Wednesday's incident, the government reacted to the criticism.
Israeli media reported that Health Minister Moshe Arbel sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, informing him that he had ordered all public hospitals to refer any wounded Hamas fighters to military medical or prison service facilities.
A spokesman for Arbel's office did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
"I'm not sure what the answer is"
While some health professionals see it as their duty to provide medical care to those who need it, Dr. Amy Isenberg acknowledged that it's a "tough question for her, especially now."
"I'm not sure what the answer is when coming face-to-face with her," said Isenberg, a resident physician at the internal medicine ward at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center.
Patients and family members at the hospital also weighed in. Some were outraged at the idea of any Israeli hospital treating a Hamas militant.
Adnan Aboubaker opposes Hamas militants being cared for in Israel.
"No," said Adnan Aboubaker, 71, hospitalized after a fall unrelated to the Hamas bombing, firmly cutting through the air with his hand in a gesture that emphasized his opposition to the simple idea.
Another man, who did not want to give his name and whose son was hospitalized with an illness, said he wanted Hamas militants to die, not be treated in an Israeli hospital.
Marina Izmailov, 34, hospitalized after being wounded Saturday when an airstrike hit her home in Tel Aviv, reducing the building in which she lived to rubble, said she did not want to comment on the matter.
Despite what had happened to her, she said she felt no anger: "I might be angry about what happened to me, but it's much bigger than that."