New Delhi: Israeli commandos, dressed as civilians and medical staff, killed three gunmen in a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the police and military said. The authorities accused one of the gunmen of planning an imminent attack, while the other two were involved in recent violence.
According to Reuters, CCTV footage shared on social media appeared to show around a dozen undercover troops, including three in women's clothing and two dressed as medical staff, pacing through a corridor of Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin with assault rifles.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared the CCTV footage on social media and praised the raid. “I congratulate and strengthen the naval commando forces of the Israeli police on their impressive operation last night in cooperation with the IDF and the Shin Bet in the Jenin refugee camp, which led to the elimination of three terrorists,” Ben Gvir said alongside the video on X.
Israel's border police said three Palestinian gunmen were killed in an operation by the force's undercover unit. The Israeli military identified one of them as a Hamas member who, it said, planned an "attack inspired by the Oct. 7 massacre," reported Reuters.
As per the Reuters report, the other two Palestinians killed in the operation were a member of the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad and a member of a group of Jenin-based gunmen, the Israeli military said in a statement. Both had been involved in recent attacks, it said.
The IDF said it targeted Hamas fighter Mohammed Jalamneh who “had recently been involved in promoting significant terrorist activity and was hiding in the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin,” reported CNN.
On the two brothers killed in the raid, the IDF said, “Mohammed Al-Ghazawi from the Jenin Camp, a terrorist operative of the Jenin Battalions who was involved in numerous attacks including firing at IDF soldiers in the area, and Basel Al-Ghazawi from the Jenin Camp, Mohammed’s brother, an Islamic Jihad terrorist organization operative involved in terror activities in the area,” the CNN report added.
Hamas launched a surprise raid into southern Israel on October 7 which triggered Israel's assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood.
There was no immediate Palestinian confirmation of the men's identities. Voice of Palestine radio reported three Palestinians had been killed at the hospital.