'Chaos and shock': Jenin's Ibn Sina hospital staff detail Israeli undercover execution

Staff at Jenin's Ibn Sina Hospital are "still in shock" after Israeli undercover forces, dressed as doctors and civilians, killed three Palestinians as they slept inside the hospital on Tuesday morning.

The victims were identified as brothers Basel and Mohammad Ghazawi, 19 and 24 years old, and Mohammad Jalamneh, 28 years old.

Basel Ghazawi was receiving medical treatment at the Ibn Sina Hospital since 25 November for wounds caused by an Israeli drone strike in Jenin. His brother Mohammad Ghazawi and a friend Mohammad Jalamneh were accompanying him.

This morning an undercover Israeli military unit —dressed as doctors and women in civilian clothing— stealthily entered Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin and assassinated three Palestinian young men with silenced firearms—one of them was hospitalized for injuries he sustained weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/g8dcx5Pkp0

— Marwa Fatafta مروة فطافطة (@marwasf) January 30, 2024

"Around 5:30 am, a group of individuals entered the hospital together, some dressed as regular civilians and some as medical staff. We learned later that they were occupation soldiers under cover", a spokesperson for the Ibn Sina hospital, who asked not to be named, told The New Arab.

"Part of the group went up to the third floor where the rehabilitation section is and headed to the room where the three young men were", said the spokesperson. "A nurse was in the room checking on the patient when the soldiers entered. One of the soldiers grabbed the nurse and put his hand over her mouth, and when she bit him, he beat her on the head and chest as the others killed the three men, then they left", the spokesperson described.

Insane documentation of the Israeli death-squad disguised as Palestinian civilians and medical workers, which murdered three Palestinians inside Ibn Sina hospital this morning in Jenin, occupied West Bank.pic.twitter.com/ueUVHO5Mtl

— Jalal #CeasefireNow (@JalalAK_jojo) January 30, 2024

"Another part of the group was on the ground floor, where they held their guns at people, and as they left, they beat the security guard, then got into civilian cars and left",  the spokesperson continued. "A state of chaos and shock broke out in the hospital. The room's walls and floor were stained with blood, and people on the floor were terrorised, many screaming", the spokesperson said.

"We, at the hospital, are still in shock. Although the hospital has been targeted by occupation forces before, by firing tear gas or blocking the entrance, never before did [the Israelis] assassinate someone inside one of the hospital's rooms", they added. 

The Jenin Brigade mourned the three men as its members in a statement, announcing that Mohammad Ghazawi was a co-founder of the Brigade in 2021.

Jenin now.

⭕ From the farewell of 3 heroic martyrs who were killed by Zionist terrorists inside Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin at dawn toda.. pic.twitter.com/cdVKZHgYzT

— Palestine Captives 𓂆 (@Palestinecapti1) January 30, 2024

At noon on Tuesday, large crowds came to the three men's funeral, pouring out into the streets of Jenin, carrying their bodies and Palestinian and factions' flags, amidst chants of anger and shots fired into the air, before the burial. 

Palestinian factions and local associations in Jenin called for a general strike in mourning.

It should be noted that Article 18 of the Geneva Conventions stipulates that a building designated as a civilian hospital, and in extension the patients and staff within it, cannot be the target of attack. 

Since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 62 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, 381 since 7 October.