The Israeli military said it killed three Palestinian militants in a raid on a hospital where they were hiding out in the occupied West Bank.
The Israel Defense Forces said the three men, operating as a “Hamas terrorist cell,” were killed in a joint operation with the Israel Securities Authority and Israel Police this morning at the Ibn Sina hospital in the northern city of Jenin.
The IDF identified the three people killed as Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, Mohammed Ghazawi and his brother Basel Ghawazi. It did not provide the ages of the two brothers. Jalamneh, it said, was a Hamas member who had “recently been involved in promoting significant terrorist activity” and was planning to carry out an imminent attack.
It said Mohammed Ghazawi had been involved in “numerous attacks,” including firing at IDF soldiers in the area, while Basel Ghawazi was accused of being “involved in terror activities in the area,” the IDF said. Hamas claimed the trio as their members.
Palestinian health authorities confirmed the deaths of three young men, saying Israeli forces opened fire inside a hospital ward and calling on the United Nations and international community to respond to the incident.
It comes as Israel continues to face scrutiny over its heavy bombardment and fighting around hospitals in Gaza. The IDF maintains that Hamas uses public buildings and facilities, including hospitals, in its fight. “This is another example of the cynical use of civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and human shields by terrorist organisations,” the IDF said in its statement.
Hamas reiterates no hostages will be released without Israel’s withdrawal
Israeli, Qatari, Egyptian and American officials in Paris have reached a “unified position” on a framework for deal that would enact a 60-day pause of hostilities in Gaza, a source familiar with the talks tells NBC News. The framework was presented to Hamas in Egypt, the source added. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that no final deal has been agreed upon.
A combination of Egyptian and Qatari proposals would include no bombardment by Israel, no rocket fire from Hamas and the redeployment of Israeli forces away from the southern city Khan Younis. The details of the Israeli military redeployment still need to be negotiated, the source added.
If agreed, the deal would move in phases with a focus on what the source calls the “humanitarian phase” in the first 60 days: Each civilian hostage, women first, would be released in exchange for three Palestinian prisoners. Israel would allow two Qatari field hospitals waiting in Egypt to be set up inside Gaza — along with much more humanitarian aid.
Any breach would be mediated via a mechanism that still needs to be discussed, but a definitive breach would temporarily end the other terms of the agreement, the source said.
During the last week of the cease-fire, other parties would begin discussing extending the pause and the release of military prisoners, beginning with military women and moving to military men and then the remains of those killed in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners taken since the start of the hostilities, which is close to 7,000. (The number of Palestinian prisoners is growing by the day.)
