Man killed as undercover Israeli forces raid West Bank hospital
Israeli special forces in disguise — one of them pretending to be a pregnant woman — killed a Palestinian man in a raid at a hospital in the West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said.
The incident happened overnight at the Al-Ahli hospital in Hebron.
The Israeli military said troops shot a man at the hospital while trying to arrest Azzam Shalaldeh, a suspect in a stabbing attack last month being treated for gunshot wounds after his Israeli victim shot him.
"About 20-30 forces entered the hospital with one woman (posing) as a pregnant woman," Osama al-Najjar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry, told Paste BN. "They arrested the whole medical staff and locked them in one room."
Since the beginning of October, hospitals in Nablus, Jerusalem and Hebron have been raided by Israeli forces, al-Najjar said. "The storming of hospitals all the time is something like a habit," he said.
Surveillance footage from the hospital shows gun-wielding individuals, some wearing fake beards, others in traditional Palestinian scarves, and one in a full black veil and robes. They later appear to push Shalaldeh down a corridor in a wheelchair.
Jihad Shawar, the director of Al-Ahli hospital, said the Israeli troops stormed a room where Shalaldeh was being treated before arresting him and his brother. They then shot and killed another brother — 27-year-old Abdallah — as he came out of a bathroom, the Associated Press reported. “This is an outright crime,” Shawar said. “No one should violate hospitals, but Israel did.”
The Israeli military disputed that version of events and said that while Shalaldeh was being arrested, a man at the hospital attacked the troops, who they then shot. It said Shalaldeh comes from a family of "known Hamas operatives."
The raid is the latest incident in almost two months of violence. Twelve Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians, while 78 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis. Israel says 50 of the Palestinians were attackers and the rest died in clashes with Israeli forces.