Jenin: thousands mourn Palestinians assassinated by Israel in hospital

Thousands of Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank took part in the funeral procession yesterday for three Palestinians who were assassinated earlier in the day by an Israeli army unit in Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital.

In a dramatic raid and in clear violation of international humanitarian law, an Israeli army special unit disguised as civilian women and medics stormed the hospital on Tuesday at dawn and assassinated the brothers Muhammad and Basil Ayman Al-Ghazawi, as well as Muhammad Walid Jalamneh, who were patients in the hospital.

The funeral procession began in front of the Martyr Khalil Suleiman Government Hospital in Jenin, from where the bodies of the three martyrs were carried shoulder high through the streets of the city and its refugee camp.

According to hospital spokesperson Tawfiq Al-Shobaki, there was no exchange of fire when the killings were carried out. Basel Al-Ghazawi, he pointed out, had been a patient since 25 October and was partially paralysed.

“What happened is a precedent,” said Al-Shobaki. “There has never been an assassination inside a hospital. There were arrests and assaults, but not an assassination.”

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