[Israeli Forces in Civilian Disguise Raid West Bank Hospital, Detain Injured Suspect
Israeli forces in civilian disguise, including doctors’ and nurses’ outfits, stormed a hospital in the northern occupied West Bank on Wednesday night, detaining an alleged Palestinian militant. The individual, Ayman Ghanam, was injured in an Israeli airstrike that killed two Hamas members days earlier.
According to a hospital official, around 20 undercover Israeli special forces, dressed in civilian clothes, entered the Nablus hospital, detained Ghanam, and departed within six minutes. The operation was carried out under the cover of night, with security forces wheeling the suspect out of the hospital in a wheelchair.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that Ghanam was involved in an August shooting attack near an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank that killed one Israeli civilian and injured another. The military said that security forces “precisely operated and apprehended” the alleged militant at a hospital in Nablus.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned the raid, citing international law that bars perfidy, including the use of feigned civilian or non-combatant status to kill, injure or capture an adversary. The Palestinian Ministry of Health called the raid a “flagrant violation of all international laws and conventions that stipulate the protection of treatment centers and patients.”
The IDF claimed that the operation was planned to “mitigate harm to patients and the medical staff of the hospital.” This is not the first time Israeli special forces have used disguises to infiltrate hospitals in the occupied West Bank. In January, they stormed the Ibn Sina hospital in the city of Jenin, killing three Palestinian men.
Ghanam, who was injured in an Israeli airstrike on a car near the town of Aqaba on Tuesday, was being treated in the ICU at the time of the raid. The hospital official described the situation as “grave” and said Ghanam had undergone surgeries to treat abdominal and leg injuries. The IDF said security forces will continue to operate to thwart terrorism in the area and maintain the safety of Israeli civilians.
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