Israeli undercover forces dressed as women and medics storm West Bank hospital, killing 3 militants

Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medical workers stormed a hospital Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the territory from the war in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile ruled out a military withdrawal from Gaza or the release of thousands of jailed militants – Hamas’ main two demands for any cease-fire – casting doubt on the latest efforts to end a war that has destabilized the broader Middle East.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the wards of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin. It condemned the raid and called on the international community to pressure Israel to halt such operations in hospitals. A hospital spokesperson said there was no exchange of fire, indicating it was a targeted killing.

The military said the militants were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. It alleged that one of those targeted had transferred weapons and ammunition to others for a planned attack, purportedly inspired by the Hamas assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the war in Gaza.

Footage said to be security camera video from the hospital that circulated on social media showed about a dozen undercover forces, most of them armed, wearing Muslim headscarves, hospital scrubs or white doctor’s coats. One carried a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair in the other. They were seen patting down one man who kneeled against a wall, his arms raised.

The Associated Press has not independently verified the footage, but it is consistent with AP reporting.

Netanyahu, speaking at an event elsewhere in the West Bank, denied reports of a possible cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza and repeated his vow to keep fighting until “absolute victory” over Hamas.

“We will not end this war without achieving all of our goals,” said Netanyahu, who is under mounting pressure from families of the hostages and the wider public to reach a deal. “We will not withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists,” he said.

On Tuesday, Hamas’ supreme political leader Ismail Haniyeh said the group was studying the latest terms for a deal, but that the priority was the “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza and that any agreement should lead to a long-term cease-fire.

He said Hamas’ leadership had been invited to Cairo to continue talks. The militant group, which has reached lopsided exchange deals with Israel in the past, is expected to demand the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants, in exchange for the remaining hostages.

Qatar and Egypt, which mediate with Hamas, have held talks with Israel and the United States in recent days. U.S. officials said negotiators had made progress toward a deal, including the phased release of the remaining hostages over a two-month period and the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The war in Gaza began when hundreds of Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Over 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

In response, Israel launched a blistering offensive that has killed more than 26,700 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The ministry count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but it says about two-thirds of the dead are women and minors.

The conflict has also leveled vast swaths of the tiny coastal enclave, displaced 85% of its population, and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation. That humanitarian crisis may soon be exacerbated, the U.N. has warned, after several countries froze funding to the main aid provider to Palestinians in Gaza following Israeli claims that a dozen of its workers participated in the Oct. 7 assault.

Violence in the West Bank has also surged since Oct. 7, as Israel has cracked down on suspected militants, killing more than 380 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most were killed in confrontations with Israeli forces during arrest raids or violent protests.

The military said in Tuesday’s hospital raid, forces killed Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, who it said was planning an imminent attack. The two other men killed, brothers Basel and Mohammed Ghazawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were involved in attacks, the military said.

The military did not provide details on how the three were killed. Its statement said Jalamneh was armed with a pistol, but made no mention of an exchange of fire.

Hamas claimed the three men as members, calling the operation “a cowardly assassination.”

Hospital spokesperson Tawfiq al-Shobaki said there was no exchange of fire, and that Basel Ghazawi had been a patient since October, with partial paralysis. He said the Israelis attacked doctors, nurses and hospital security during the raid.

“What happened is a precedent,” he said. “There was never an assassination inside a hospital. There were arrests and assaults, but not an assassination.”

Israel has come under heavy criticism for its raids on hospitals in Gaza, which have treated the tens of thousands of Palestinians wounded in the war and provided critical shelter for displaced people.

Gaza’s health care system, which was already feeble before the war, is on the verge of collapse, buckling under the scores of patients, the lack of fuel and medical necessities limited by Israeli restrictions and repeated interruptions from fighting in and near the facilities.

Israel says militants use hospitals as cover, hiding out in them or launching operations from them. The military says it has found underground tunnels in the vicinity of hospitals and that it has located weapons and vehicles used in the Oct. 7 attack on hospital grounds.

Tuesday’s raid took place in the West Bank town of Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel and the frequent target of Israeli raids, even before the war began.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but imposed a stifling blockade on the territory, along with Egypt, when Hamas came to power in a violent takeover in 2007. It maintains an open-ended occupation of the West Bank, where more than half a million Israelis now live in settlements.

The Palestinians claim these territories as part of their future independent state, hopes for which have increasingly dimmed since the war began.

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Lidman reported from Jerusalem and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed reporting from Beirut.