Hamas terrorist wounded in Gaza being treated in Israeli hospital — reports
Move comes despite earlier decision that captured terrorists would only be treated in IDF or prison service medical facilities
A Hamas terrorist wounded in fighting in the Gaza Strip is being treated in Sharon Hospital in Petah Tikva, Hebrew media reported Wednesday.
The move is in apparent contravention of a Health Ministry decision, made in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, that captured terrorists would only be treated in IDF or prison service medical facilities.
According to the reports, the man was seriously injured in fighting on Tuesday and due to the severity of his wounds, it was decided to transfer him to the central Israel medical center.
Officials told Channel 12 that he was likely to be transferred to the Sde Teiman military detention center once his condition stabilizes.
An official told the Kan public broadcaster that he was sent to the hospital because the military facility did not have the capability to treat his wounds and that security at Sharon Hospital had been increased.
There were no immediate details on the Hamas terrorist’s identity.
Sources familiar with the decision told Channel 12 and Kan that captured terrorists needing urgent medical treatment were being rotated through different Israeli hospitals. The official said the rotation agreement was done in coordination with the Health Ministry.
Soroka hospital in Beersheba confirmed to Kan that it also has a Gaza terrorist being treated there.
The comments appeared to indicate that Israel has shifted its stance from the initial decision not to treat captured terrorists in Israeli hospitals.
In early October, then health minister Moshe Arbel sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informing him that he had ordered all public hospitals and health services to redirect injured terrorists to IDF or prison service medical facilities.
“Since the beginning of the war, the issue of treating the accursed Hamas terrorists in public hospitals has created great strain on the healthcare system,” Arbel wrote.
He wrote that the health system needed to be focused on treating victims of the slaughter committed by the terrorists, injured soldiers, and on preparing for what is to come in the war.
“The task of treating and providing security for the accursed terrorists in the public healthcare system just detracts from this,” Arbel wrote.
At the time there were dozens of Hamas terrorists who were captured in the aftermath of the October 7 onslaught, in which thousands of terrorists invaded IDF bases and border communities, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 240 hostages.
In recent days Israel has captured hundreds of suspected terrorists in Gaza as it pushes ahead with its offensive and says they are providing valuable information.
