A Palestinian terrorist captured by Israel Defense Forces troops in the Gaza Strip was admitted to a Petach Tikvah hospital for surgery this week, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday.
Following an overnight stay at Rabin Medical Center’s Hasharon Hospital in the central Israeli city, the detainee was transferred on Wednesday night to a military facility for interrogation by the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Maariv said.
The terrorist was wounded during an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in the Strip, according to Channel 13 News.
A spokeswoman for Hasharon Hospital on Wednesday confirmed that its surgeons had operated on a Gaza resident pursuant to a request from Health Ministry officials, but was unable to divulge additional details due to patient privacy restrictions.
A military spokesperson told JNS that “while fighting the Hamas terror organization in Gaza, IDF forces detain a large number of suspected terrorists, who are transferred for further investigation in Israel.”
The spokesman added that, “In general, terrorists participating in battles in the Gaza Strip are not evacuated for medical treatment by the IDF.”
According to Maariv, police presence around Hasharon Hospital was stepped up due to fears of civil unrest in response to the terrorist’s arrival in the city.
In October, fans of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club attempted to break into the emergency room of Ramat Gan’s Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer following reports that three Hamas terrorists were being treated there alongside Israeli victims.
In response to the incident, Israeli Health Minister Moshe Arbel reportedly instructed all public hospitals to stop treating Hamas terrorists.
“The task of securing and treating the cursed and despicable terrorists within the public health system significantly harms these efforts and therefore, under my guidance, the public health system will not treat them,” Arbel reportedly wrote in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Wednesday, a group of anesthesiologists told Rabin Medical Center’s management that they would refuse to treat additional terrorists brought to the hospital, according to a letter obtained by Arutz 7.
“We, the anesthesiology department of Hasharon Hospital, unanimously refuse to treat murderers (except for life-saving treatment),” the doctors wrote. “This was the first and the last time and all of us are prepared to stand before any official or disciplinary committee and explain our position and principles.”
Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster cited Health Ministry officials as saying on Wednesday that 12 Palestinian terrorists have been treated in Israeli hospitals since Oct. 17.
More than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and thousands were wounded in Hamas’s Oct. 7 cross-border attacks on Israel’s southern region. Some 240 people were taken as hostages to Gaza.
