The small group of special forces, some disguised as medical personnel and women, were in and out in ten minutes.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
In what security authorities called an “unprecedented” operation, special forces of the IDF eliminated a terror cell in a Jenin hospital very early Tuesday morning in a precise raid that hurt no one else and took a mere ten minutes.
In a clip shown on several Israeli news sites taken from security cameras at the Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital, about a dozen men can be seen in a corridor with weapons. Several were dressed in civilian clothes, while others were disguised as medical personnel and women. One was carrying a folded wheelchair as a prop, while another could be seen with a baby carrier in hand.
While one group stood watch in the hallway, another group entered a room on the third floor that the three terrorists were using as a hideout. The team shot and killed them using handguns with silencers, and then all the soldiers speedily left the premises.
According to the Israeli security authorities, the terrorists, along with many others, had been using the hospital for a long time as a base of operations from which they left to commit shooting and bomb-throwing attacks, among others.
They were wrong in thinking themselves safe among the human shields of doctors and patients, a senior official said.
“There are no safe places in Judea and Samaria and there never will be,” said the official. “Every terrorist should know that. The IDF and security system will reach all of them.”
The most important man of the trio, Mohammed Jalamneh (27), was a leader and spokesman for Hamas’ Al Qassem Brigades in Jenin, the IDF said in a joint statement with the Shabak and Israeli police. He had been arranging an imminent raid from Palestinian Authority territory into Israel inspired by the Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were massacred, sparking the current war in the Gaza Strip.
“Jalamneh planned to carry out an attack in the immediate future and used the hospital as a hideout and so he was thwarted,” the security authorities said. “We will continue to act against any threat that endangers the security of the State of Israel.”
The senior terrorist maintained contacts with Hamas headquarters abroad, which is based mainly in Qatar, and transferred weapons and ammunition to terrorist operatives in his area. He also had impeccable street credit, having been injured in the past while attempting to carry out a car bombing against Israelis.
A handgun was found among his possessions after the targeted killing.
The other two wanted men were brothers, Mohammed and Basel Ghazawi, according to an IDF statement on the incident. Mohammed was also a member of Hamas, while Basel belonged to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Both had been involved in numerous terror activities in the Jenin area.