How Israeli forces killed 3 Palestinians in hospital sleep

On January 30, 5:30 AM, Israeli forces abruptly entered the Ibn Sina Hospital. They were disguised as civilians, in medical and nurse clothing, and proceeded to the third floor of the hospital.

They assaulted medical staff there.

From there they went into a patient room where they killed three people: Mohammad and Basil al Ghazzawi, who were brothers, and Mohammad Jalamna, a friend to them.

Basil, 26, had been recuperating from an injury since October 2023. He was in critical condition. Fortunately he improved after undergoing a complex medical operation.

More specifically, and during this time, he was receiving specialized rehabilitative care. That went some ways to ameliorate his condition but he still faced major challenges, notably a paralysis in his lower body.

For the same reason he could not move on his own. He was bedridden. He needed help to do daily activities – going from his bed to the bathroom and so forth.

The three were killed because they happened to be in the same room together, when the Israelis entered. They actually shot them while they were sleeping. They didn’t give it a second thought.

The hospital has given all documents that might help an investigation of the murder to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. At the moment they are in charge of better understanding what happened, advancing any possibility of justice.

The murder is not the first time the hospital has been disrupted by Israelis forces. They barged in before to make arrests. But this week was the first time, to my knowledge, they came to kill.

Needless to say, Israeli forces make things difficult at the hospital.

To deliver good medical services, staff and patients need to be in a safe environment. Especially as a referral hospital, this is an absolute priority for us.

Patients who undergo and recover from complex surgeries come here. Many of them are already particularly vulnerable: children, the elderly, those who’ve survived or at-risk of experiencing heart attacks, patients that have to be admitted immediately to the intensive care unit.

In the absence of a safe environment, there’ll inevitably be a negative impact on both the performance of medical staff and the health outcomes of patients. It compromises our ability to providing what is often life-saving care.

Note: Dr. Tawfiq Shawbaki is head of the surgery unit at Ibn Sina Hospital, in Jenin. He narrated the incident to TRT World's Senior Producer Paul Salvatori.