Israeli commandos who killed three Palestinian terrorists inside a West Bank hospital on Tuesday were from an elite unit of the country’s Border Police known as Yamam, said Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
The forces from Yamam, also known as the National Counter-Terrorism Unit, were disguised as women and medical workers when they raided the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin.
The main target of the raid, Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, was using the hospital to plan future attacks and kill Israeli civilians, Gen. Halevi said.
“We do not want to turn hospitals into battlefields, with patients on the right and doctors and nurses on the left and terrorists in the middle,” Gen. Halevi said. “But, we are even more determined not to allow hospitals in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, above ground or in tunnel shafts and tunnels under hospitals, to become a place that is a cover for terrorism.”
Israeli officials said Mr. Jalamneh, was hiding out in the hospital while planning to carry out a terror attack inspired by Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage that killed more than 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds of others being taken hostage inside the Gaza Strip.
Also killed in the raid were brothers Mohammad Ghazawi and Basic Ghazawi. IDF officials said both had been involved in militant activity including attacks on Israel.
“Where necessary, we enter even the most complex places to eliminate terrorism, to harm terrorism, to strike terrorists — and where there is fighting, to eliminate them,” Gen. Halevi said.