A group of roughly a dozen undercover Israeli commandos entered a hospital in the West Bank on Tuesday and killed three Palestinian militants.
The Israeli commandos, some of whom were disguised as nurses or women in hijabs, carried out the operation inside the Ibn Sina hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, according to surveillance footage posted to social media by Israeli officials.
Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised the raid while sharing the camera footage on social media.
“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 posted on X.
Hamas said the three militants who were killed belonged to the Jenin Brigades, an armed Palestinian faction in the West Bank city of the same name. The men were also terrorists closely associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Israel Defense Forces said, and were identified as Mohammed Jalamneh, Mohammed Al-Ghazawi, and Basel Al-Ghazawi. The last two were brothers.
“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 IDF said.
Jalamneh who “had recently been involved in promoting significant terrorist activity” was hiding in the hospital, according to the IDF. Hamas claimed Jalamneh as a member and released a photo of him, while calling all three men “fighting martyrs” for the Palestinian cause.
Citing sources from inside the hospital, Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported that the undercover special forces “infiltrated the hospital individually, headed to the third floor, and assassinated the young men.”
The Ibn Sina hospital said they were sleeping at the time of the attack. Basil Al-Ghazawi was receiving treatment after sustaining injuries from a rocket explosion in October, the hospital added.
No other casualties in the raid have been reported.