Palestinians: Soldiers vandalized hospital
According to Palestinian reports, troops entering Nablus hospital in search of suspect hospitalized there destroy equipment, severely damage property. Fugitive apparently manages to escape prior to their arrival. Physicians for Human Rights slam incident: Leave hospitals out of military operations
Palestinians reported that two people were wounded when violence erupted between IDF soldiers and Palestinians outside of a Nablus hospital. According to the report, the soldiers arrived at the hospital to arrest a fugitive hospitalized there since incurring wounds in an earlier IDF operation and caused a great deal of damage to hospital property while searching for the suspect, but failed to arrest him.
The suspect, 20-year-old Ahmed Sanakra from the Balata refugee camp, underwent an operation at the hospital earlier Sunday. Sanakra, who is the brother of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades leader in Balata, required surgery after suffering wounds last week during a gun battle with IDF troops.
Soldiers arrive at Nablus hospital (Photo: AP)
Palestinians reported that more than 20 IDF jeeps arrived at the hospital, from three different directions, to arrest Sanakra. However, the suspect’s friends heard that Israeli forces were approaching and as soon as the surgery was completed, he was removed from the hospital and taken to a secret location.
Soldiers arrived at the hospital shortly after Sanakra’s escape, and they began searching for him in the rooms and hallways of the hospital. Palestinian sources in the hospital reported that soldiers destroyed equipment and caused severe damages during the search. Activists from Physicians for Human Rights said that during the search, soldiers made all the hospital employees assemble on one floor and interrupted their work.
When the troops left the hospital, Palestinians waiting outside the building threw stones at them. Scuffles broke out and two Palestinians were lightly wounded.
The Physicians for Human Rights organization condemned the soldiers’ conduct in the hospital. The organization stated that “Hospitals and hospital staff must be excluded from all military operations.”
