Disguised Israelis raid Hebron hospital

His cousin Abdullah Shalaalda was shot dead as he emerged from an attached bathroom after hearing a commotion, relatives said.

Israeli forces rushed to the scene and spread out in the area to search for the attacker, who escaped from the scene.

“They banned the medical team from moving and they took control of the surgery department, went to Shalaldeh’s room and banned anyone from entering”, Shawar said. “When Abdallah came out of the bathroom where he was washing his hands in preparation for morning prayers they shot him and left him to bleed on the floor”.

CCTV footage shows the group of disguised men, dressed as Palestinian locals, walked into the hospital and then pointed their weapons at doctors.

Three of the agents obstructed the hospital entrance and ordered medical staff not to move.

After Friday prayers in Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli soldiers on the border.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency issued a statement after the hospital raid saying it “will not permit terror operatives to hide in any places of refuge”. It appears that this was not the case in the shooting of Abdullah Shalaldah, as he was unarmed.

Amnesty cited a series of extrajudicial executions carried out by Israeli forces. Twelve Israelis have been killed in a spate of attacks by Palestinians, while 78 Palestinians have been killed.

Also on Friday, two Israeli settlers were killed in a shooting attack near the Jewish settlement of Otniel in southern Hebron.

The current unrest was provoked when right-wing Zionist elements, backed by the security forces, began demanding access to the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, clashing with Palestinians, whose access to the mosque has been increasingly restricted.

The group’s advocacy coordinator, Rafat Sub Laban, told Ma’an at the end of last month, that at least 988 Palestinians had been detained, including 578 in the occupied West Bank, 258 in East Jerusalem, and 152 in Israel. A second Palestinian was reported killed in clashes with Israeli military near Ramallah.

“The recent series of attacks against Israelis is the direct result of incitement by radical Islamist and terrorist elements, calling on Palestinian youth to murder Jews”, writes the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Israeli intelligence services apparently have a somewhat more realistic appraisal.

Speaking of the latest Hebron attack, Netanyahu said Friday, “We will find the murderers and bring them to justice, like we have done in the past”.

So discredited is the PA that there was reportedly widespread speculation that it had been complicit in Thursday’s hospital raid.

Israeli forces have further increased security that had already included around 100 checkpoints separating Palestinians from settlers. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.

It was the most serious attack on Israelis in almost a month and sparked a manhunt, with soldiers backed by air units deploying en masse in the neighbouring Palestinian communities of Yatta and As Samou, an AFP journalist said.

Israel has accused Palestinian political and religious leaders of inciting the unrest.