After the assassination of 3 Palestinians in Jenin Hospital… terror haunts patients and medical staff
Fear has loomed over Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin, in the West Bank, since members of the Israeli forces infiltrated it, disguised in civilian clothes or nurses’ uniforms, to kill three Palestinians there. The memory of the operation still haunts patients and members of the medical staff, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
In the hospital’s rehabilitation ward, two patients remember hearing a nurse scream when Israeli forces reached the third floor.
One of them says, hiding his face with his gray jacket: “I opened the door and saw a man.” I did not know that he was from the special forces… The man was strangling the nurse with his hands, and he hit her with the butt of his rifle.”
His account matched that of an older patient who spoke to Agence France-Presse as he walked down the corridor holding a walking frame, and said he heard screaming while sitting in his room.
Neither of them knew that just a few meters away, Israeli special forces in room 376 had shot and killed three Palestinians, one of whom was paralyzed and had been treated in the hospital for months.
The patient, who was shouted at by secret agents to close the door to his room during the attack, adds: “The situation becomes more difficult at night.”
All those interviewed by the French Agency at Ibn Sina Hospital, with the exception of one person, stipulated that their identities not be revealed, for fear of their personal safety.
On the other side of the wing, room No. 376 had been cleaned and remained empty.
Looking closely, bullet holes are visible in an empty bed in the room where the Palestinian youths were shot.
A hospital worker showed the agency pictures on his phone of a bullet dating back to the January 30 attack.
A nurse displays his mobile phone with a picture of a bullet found in Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin (AFP)
“Insecurity”
One of the doctors says that a man dressed as a doctor and speaking fluent Arabic approached him and showed the ID card pinned to his chest, before asking him to open room No. 376, where the two brothers Basil and Muhammad Ayman Ghazawi were, in addition to their friend Muhammad Jalamna.
The Israeli army said at the time that its forces had “neutralized Hamas terrorists who were hiding in the hospital.”
For its part, the World Health Organization denounced what it described as “shocking.”
The representative of the World Health Organization in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Peppercorn, said that such an attack “generates fear and poses a danger to health workers and patients,” adding in a statement on February 2 that such attacks “reduce trust.” “In health workers and hospitals, it exposes them to danger, reduces confidence in the health system, and thus reduces people’s access to care.”
A nurse shows the hole caused by a bullet in a mattress at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin (AFP)
There is clear concern at Ibn Sina Hospital, compared to previous visits made by Agence France-Presse.
The head of the hospital’s surgery department, Tawfiq Al-Shoubaki, admitted that workers “feel afraid and unsafe.”
He said: “It is a difficult feeling for the medical staff, especially since it reflects negatively on the medical staff themselves and on the patients.”
“I’m terrified”
Paramedics in Jenin are accustomed to dealing with emergency situations; People who are injured during Israeli military incursions into the refugee camp are transferred to Ibn Sina Hospital.
They must balance these cases with the care of other patients, such as patients in the cardiology department, intensive care, or neonatal department, according to Al-Shobaki.
Al-Shoubaki explained, “A person must feel safe in his workplace. What happens affects the effectiveness and performance of the medical team.”
The West Bank has witnessed an escalation in violence since the outbreak of war on October 7 between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, where Israeli soldiers stormed several hospitals.
Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila said that the same pattern is repeated in hospital raids.
She explained on February 7 that “our message is to stop Israel’s abuse of the health system in Palestine,” adding: “Stop the aggression against hospitals in Gaza, as well as in the West Bank.”
The killing of the three Palestinians on January 20 at Ibn Sina Hospital sparked a feeling of suspicion among patients and medical staff.
Not knowing how the Israeli agents planned their attack, some speculated that one of the hospital workers had cooperated with the special forces.
The patient interviewed by the French Agency said: “This informant remained in my imagination and in my mind for more than a week… I am terrified.”
2024-02-17 11:19:31
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