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full screen An employee at the Ibn Sina hospital watches a news report about the Israeli raid. Photo: Majdi Mohammed/AP/TT
Israeli soldiers are said to have dressed up as health workers in a deadly raid on a Palestinian hospital in the occupied West Bank.
If the information is correct, Israel may have committed a war crime, according to international law expert Ove Bring.
Early on Tuesday, Israeli special forces entered the Palestinian Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin in the West Bank and shot dead three members of terror-labeled Hamas.
The Israeli military states that the raid was aimed at a “terrorist cell within Hamas”, and that the hospital was used as a hideout. The military further states that one of those who was shot to death passed on weapons and ammunition to other combative Palestinians ahead of a planned attack on Israeli targets, according to the AP news agency.
Hamas confirms that those killed were members of the organization.
Caught on picture
Videos from surveillance cameras at the hospital, published on X by Palestinian authorities, show how about ten Israeli soldiers enter the hospital. The footage shows how some of the soldiers are masked with Muslim headscarves, and how others are dressed as health workers and doctors. Some of them carry a baby carrier and a wheelchair to blend into the hospital environment.
Ove Bring, professor emeritus of international law, says that the Israeli soldiers’ actions “must be considered a violation of the laws of war”.
Fool people in battle
He takes as an example that it is a violation of the laws of war to show a white flag “which indicates that one surrenders when one does not actually surrender but intends to shoot”, to pretend to be a peace negotiator, to misuse the UN flag and to use the Red Cross flag “to deceive people in battle”.
– Although there is nothing said about dressing up in a doctor’s uniform, it follows from all the other examples that this must be considered a violation of the laws of war.
Ove Bring says that it is permissible to carry out military operations inside hospitals, if they are “abused to hide military resources, soldiers or units.
– Then you have the right to go towards the military goal in question, but you must always show consideration for the hospital’s function, and as much as possible protect patients, doctors and civilians.