Tensions are not decreasing in the West Bank.
Three Palestinians, presented by Israel as "terrorists", were killed this Tuesday in a hospital in Jenin during a targeted operation by Israeli forces in this city in the northern occupied West Bank, according to consistent sources.
An AFP journalist saw the bodies of the three men inside the hospital, mourned by relatives.
According to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health, “three martyrs (were) shot dead by the occupying forces inside the Avicenna Hospital” in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups.
In a joint statement, the army, internal security and the Israeli police indicated that they had “neutralized” during a joint operation Mohammad Jalamnah, a “Hamas terrorist” who “was hiding” in this hospital, as well as “ two other terrorists”, Bassel and Ayman Ghazawi.
"איבן סינא" בעיר ג׳נין ש https://t.co/BrVEVzyHSn
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 30, 2024
“A group of members of the occupying forces dressed in civilian clothes entered (
the hospital
) and murdered (
the three men
) using” weapons equipped with silencers, said Dr. Naji Nazzal, medical director of the establishment.
“The operation took place in the rehabilitation department on the third floor, where Bassel Ghazawi had been treated since October 25,” the doctor said, adding that the man could “no longer move at all.”
“Contacts with Hamas”, according to Israel
According to the Israeli forces' statement, Jalamnah "had contacts with Hamas command posts abroad and
was
injured while trying to plot a car bomb" some time ago.
He also allegedly “transferred weapons and ammunition to terrorists in order to carry out attacks” and “planned a raid inspired by the October 7 massacres.”
Also read: Hamas sexual violence on October 7: behind the scenes of a long, painful and difficult investigation
“Jalamnah was planning to carry out an attack at very short notice and was using the hospital to hide.
He was therefore neutralized,” said the statement from the Israeli security forces.
According to them, “a large number” of Palestinians wanted by Israel are hiding “in hospitals” and using them “as bases for planning terrorist activities and carrying out attacks”.
That day, Hamas commandos launched a surprise attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of around 1,140 people on the Israeli side, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to “annihilate” the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a vast military operation which left 26,637 people dead in this small coastal territory, the vast majority of them women, children and adolescents, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.