Israeli military, Palestinian Authority besiege, raid Jenin hospitals in West Bank

Medical teams attempting to provide care have come under direct Israeli fire, while paramedics have been obstructed from reaching the dead and wounded, who remain strewn across the streets.

Israeli forces have killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded 40 since the attack began on Tuesday morning, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Amid the raid, Israeli military bulldozers destroyed the main road leading to the Jenin government hospital, blocking access with dirt barriers.

Wissam Bakr, the hospital’s director, told Middle East Eye that the bulldozers had made it difficult for medical teams to enter or exit.

More than 600 displaced individuals had sought refuge in the hospital, which was surrounded by military forces and cut off from receiving any food for an entire day.

“The situation was tragic last night,” Bakr added.

“The hospital was overwhelmed with displaced people and patients, and the Israeli army had surrounded it on all sides. We feared they would storm it or start shooting.”

Although hospital sieges have occurred during previous military raids, this one is described as the harshest yet.

Hundreds of displaced people arrived at the hospital as the incursion began, with many forced to sleep in its corridors.

Despite attempts by the hospital administration to coordinate the delivery of food, the Israeli military prevented it from reaching those inside.

On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army allowed some displaced people to leave the hospital on foot but only after subjecting them to searches and arresting several individuals, according to Bakr.

Iyad Salahat, who was accompanying his sick mother at the hospital during the attack, recounted the fear and uncertainty amid the siege.

The loud noise of military vehicles and bulldozers, combined with threats over loudspeakers, made him fear the hospital could face the same fate as those destroyed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

“We didn’t know what to do and began to imagine what happened in Gaza’s hospitals,” Salahat told MEE.

“Will they storm the hospital? Will they evacuate us? Will they kill the doctors or arrest them? Everything seemed possible.”

Salahat and his family were among those permitted to leave on Wednesday.

“They divided us into groups of five each, then searched us thoroughly and forced us to take off our clothes,” he explained.

“They arrested at least 10 of those who came out and forced us to walk in one line.”

He added that an Israeli drone was flying overhead, seemingly helping soldiers with inspections.

At the al-Amal hospital in Jenin, the Israeli siege was more violent, with soldiers firing indiscriminately into the courtyard, wounding at least three doctors and two hospital workers.

Their injuries were described as moderate to minor.

Ihsan Rawajba, a receptionist at the hospital, described the situation as chaotic, with gunfire echoing through the hospital grounds on Tuesday.

A nurse was shot behind the hospital and left bleeding until a paramedic was able to rescue him, Rawajba told MEE.

The shooting was random and without warning, he added.

The hospital remains under strict siege, with no one allowed to enter or leave except one ambulance, which is subject to inspection every time it moves in or out.

“We are forced to bring food to those inside the hospital via this ambulance, but its staff is threatened all the time,” Rawajba said.

“We can only accept new casualties under the inspection and supervision of the Israeli army,” he continued.

Separately, PA security forces stormed al-Razi hospital in Jenin on Wednesday and arrested a wounded man believed to be a member of the Jenin Battalion and wanted by the Israeli army.

The PA raid appeared to be the first time Palestinian forces publicly participated in an Israeli military assault in the West Bank.