Pregnancy ruse security squad in fake beards shoot dead man in hospital raid

An elite security team, including one impersonating a pregnant woman in labour and others wearing fake beards, killed a man after bursting into a West Bank hospital to arrest a Hamas fugitive. The group of 20 undercover Israeli forces dressed in traditional Arab clothing to storm the surgical unit where Azzam Shalaldeh was being treated for gunshot wounds. They handcuffed him and his brother who was in the room, then shot and killed another brother, 27-year-old Abdallah, as he emerged from a bathroom. The raid has infuriated Palestinians who say the troops had no right to go into the hospital.

They kept the hospital’s medical crew as hostages at gun point. They arrested the patient and took him away, leaving his cousin [to] bleed to death

Dr Jihad Shawar, director of al-Ahli Hospital

Video released by the hospital in Herbon, shows the security forces walking down a hospital corridor, pushing someone covered in a blanket in a wheelchair. The person in the wheelchair flings off the blanket, stands up and, with the other men, draws a gun. They are joined by what appear to be two women, one wearing a niqab, while the other appears to be pregnant and holds her hand on her lower back as she walks. Minutes later, the men, some with what appear to be fake beards and moustaches, push the suspect in a wheelchair back down the hall, as perplexed nurses look on. The Israelis claimed they opened fire when Abdallah tried to stop them arresting their brother, who was being treated after being shot by an Israeli he tried to stab.

This is an outright crime. No one should violate hospitals, but Israel did

Dr Shawar

Middle East hospital west bank