Undercover Israeli occupation forces attacked Al-Ahli Hospital in Al-Khalil in the early hours of Thursday, 12 November, pretending to accompany a pregnant woman needing medical assistance, before invading the hospital room of Azzam Shalaldeh, 20, recovering from being shot by an Israeli settler on October 25 and killing his cousin, Abdullah Shalaldeh, 28.
Approximately 20 undercover occupation forces infiltrated the hospital, abducted Azzam Shalaldeh and killed the unarmed Abdullah Shalaldeh with five rounds fired into his head and body in his cousin’s hospital room. Abdullah, hearing the noise of the attack, emerged from the hospital bathroom into Azzam’s room only to be shot several times and killed by the occupation soldiers. Abdullah is the 80th Palestinian killed this month by Israeli occupation forces.
Azzam Shalaldeh was in the hospital, recovering from severe injuries caused by being shot by an Israeli settler in the Gush Etzion settlement, built on stolen occupied Palestinian land. The settler accused Azzam of taking part in a Palestinian resistance action, attempting to stab him with a knife. Azzam and his family were harassed by the settlers while picking olives in Sair, their home village. Despite the severe injury to Azzam, who was shot three times by the settler, the settler living on occupied Palestinian land was identified as “the victim” and occupation military forces invaded the hospital in order to arrest and imprison him.
The undercover occupation forces, labeled “Mustaribeen,” were dressed to appear as Palestinians. They have invaded hospitals in the past, including Al-Arabi hospital in Nablus on 4 October, where they arrested Karam al-Masri, 23, and disabled the surveillance cameras in the hospital. Al-Makassed hospital in Jerusalem has been invaded five times in the past month by occupation forces disguised as Palestinians, firing gas bombs, concussion grenades and rubber-coated metal bullets inside the hospital, injuring patients and health workers, and forcibly interrogating doctors and nurses.
Palestinian health workers and doctors at Al-Ahli hospital denounced the killing of Abdullah Shalaldeh, a Palestinian shot down for accompanying his wounded cousin in the hospital and the abduction of Azzam Shalaldeh, and the ongoing invasions and attack on Palestinian health workers and hospitals by occupation forces.
Video of the invasion:
