[News] Disguised as Palestinians, Israeli forces infiltrate neighbourhoods when they are most crowded and turn them into battlefields

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-undercover-broad-daylight-military-raids-west-bank-cities>
Undercover in broad daylight: Israeli military raids in West Bank cities
*Disguised as Palestinians, Israeli forces infiltrate neighbourhoods when
they are most crowded and turn them into battlefields *

By Ola Marshoud in Nablus, occupied Palestine
11–14 minutes
------------------------------
[image: image.png]

On a calm Wednesday morning, Allam Abdulhaq was cleaning his small shop in
the Mreij Street in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, when he found
himself in the middle of a violent Israeli
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> undercover raid.

It took him a few moments before he realised that a group of
telecommunication workers that had arrived in his neighbourhood moments
earlier was in fact an Israeli forces unit preparing to detain Palestinian
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> fighter Mohammed Hamdan.

The raid, on 22 March, came as part of a series of similar Israeli military
raids into various West Bank towns and neighbourhoods that aimed to detain
or assassinate wanted Palestinian resistance fighters.

Many of these raids resulted in the killing of several Palestinians, in
what Palestinian officials have described as a series of "massacres
<https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230222-six-palestinians-killed-dozens-shot-in-israel-west-bank-raid>
".

In a trembling voice, Abdulhaq recalled the events of that morning.
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"I saw two young men dressing like workers of the telecommunication or the
electricity company. They were carrying equipment and their clothes were
covered in dust and dirt," the 55-year-old shop owner said in a trembling
voice as he recalled the events of that morning.

"One of them spoke to his colleague in Arabic then bought a bottle of
water. A few moments later, a car with a ladder strapped to its roof
arrived and four men got out. They asked the two young men: ‘Ready?’. They
responded, ‘Yes, ready’.

"The four then headed to the delivery company in front of my shop, and the
other two remained near my shop.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-man-died-medic-arms-realised-father>

A Palestinian man died in this medic's arms. Then he realised it was his
father

"A few minutes passed before Hamdan came running out of the company,
followed by the four men who pointed their guns at him and shot him, then
started yelling and cursing him using obscene words."

While Abdulhaq was watching the incident unfold, the two young men pointed
their guns to his head, forcing him to turn his back on the scene.

However, he tried to take a look to see if Hamdan, who was shot in the
thigh, was still alive.

"I thought that it was a family problem or some kind of row, until military
reinforcements arrived in a bus that was carrying undercover agents and
Israeli forces. Only then did I realise that what was going on was a
military raid to detain a wanted Palestinian man," Abdulhaq told Middle
East Eye.

Three weeks after the raid, Abdulhaq seems to still be in shock.

"I was terrified. I have diabetes and I was in a miserable state, so my
brother, who is a doctor, called an ambulance," he recalled.

"I cannot forget the voice of Mohammed Hamdan shouting as he was being
detained: ‘Say hello to my daughters’. I cannot get him out of my mind."
Disguised to assassinate

Since 2021, the Israeli army has intensified its raids into West Bank
towns, where detention and assassination operations are usually conducted
by undercover special forces.

Israeli soldiers would appear in Palestinian neighbourhood dressed like
locals - including disguised as Muslim clerics, workers, journalists, or
medics - to conduct highly secretive military operations.

The undercover forces have since managed to enter Palestinian towns using
trucks and vehicles that carried names of Palestinian companies and food
factories, or cars with Palestinian number plates.

'I cannot forget the voice of Mohammed Hamdan shouting: ‘Say hello to my
daughters’. I cannot get him out of my mind'

*- Allam Abdulhaq, shop owner*

Surprisingly, most of the raids were conducted at peak hours in overcrowded
markets and neighbourhoods, turning them into battlefields.

One month before the undercover raid in Nablus, on 22 February, Israeli
forces stormed the city
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-nablus-raid-kill-wreak-havoc>
and killed 11 Palestinians.

Disguised as clergy and holding prayer rugs in which they had hid their
weapons, Israeli undercover forces entered a crowded market, and headed to
the Grand Salahi Mosque, according to eyewitness accounts
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-man-died-medic-arms-realised-father>
.

The special forces then left the mosque and moved towards a nearby building
where Palestinian fighters were said to be located, before they were joined
by large military reinforcements.

The house was besieged, and missiles were fired at the building, while
Israeli snipers were spotted in the vicinity.

An Israeli military helicopter was also seen hovering over the city.
Undercover in broad daylight

Three weeks later, on 16 March, a similar raid
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/four-palestinians-killed-israeli-raid-jenin>
was conducted in the West Bank city of Jenin, although with some variations.

On a busy Thursday afternoon on Abu Baker street, where Jenin's central
market is usually crowded before the weekend, four gunmen alighted from a
vehicle and opened fire at the crowd of shoppers and pedestrians, as they
targeted two Palestinian resistance fighters.

The two men - identified as Nidal Khazem, 28, and Youssef Shreim, 29 - had
left the Jenin camp that day, where they had been in hiding, to visit a
barber shop and a sweet shop in the city.

They were on a motorcycle when they were killed, along with two others,
including a 16-year-old boy. Twenty three others were also wounded in the
raid, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

[image: Relatives mourn by the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli
raid earlier in the day, during their funeral in Jenin city in the occupied
West Bank, on March 16, 2023.]
Relatives mourn over the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli raid
earlier in the day, during their funeral in Jenin in the occupied West
Bank, on 16 March 2023 (AFP)

"Everyone was screaming and crying and running everywhere. Women and
children were terrified, while men were trying to protect us and get us
inside the shops to avoid being shot," said Sora Abu al-Rob, who was
leaving a dental clinic when the incident occurred.

"I decided to go back to the clinic. I thought that maybe it would be safer
than the street. But the clinic’s window was directly overlooking the roof
of the opposite building, where resistance fighters hid behind water tanks
and clashed with the special forces.''

Abu al-Rob and other patients in the clinic took shelter from the shooting
in one of the corridors.

'Raids are nothing new to the Palestinian people, but what made it horrific
that time was that it occurred in the middle of an overly crowded market'

*- Sora Abu al-Rob, Jenin*

Before visiting the clinic, Abu al-Rob had met with friends she had not
seen in seven months.

"We walked in the city’s neighbourhoods and talked about how much we love
it, and about the intimacy we feel being in it. But this intimacy vanished
in the blink of an eye, and turned into fear and horror," she recalled.

"[When the shooting started] I tried to reach out to my friends to make
sure they were ok, but I could not," she said.

"[Military] raids are nothing new to the Palestinian people, but they are
usually conducted on the outskirts of cities and neighbourhoods.

"What made it horrific that time was the fact that it occurred in the
middle of an overly crowded market."

Following the incident, Abu al-Rob said in a Facebook post
<https://www.facebook.com/abualrob.sora/posts/pfbid02fxMi8fiMfh41MHpm9vPsczEARLUVivhwpatF3NpKRWbFEKskz9HJ7YoHXSmVVii2l>:
"This is a scene that we do not get used to, no matter how many times it
occurs. These grieving voices do not disappear with time. This huge loss
does not fade with time. Rather, they generate fear, hatred, long revenge,
and perhaps...a little hope."
‘You’re a Palestinian, you’re a target’

As soon as a raid begins, Mohammed Ordonia, a football coach and
photographer, puts on his paramedic suit and rushes to the field to treat
the wounded.

In such events, Ordonia says that he and his fellow paramedics "forget the
fear" as their first concern and priority becomes "saving lives".

The 28-year-old paramedic and several of his colleagues, who were part of a
medical relief team of 25, were present in the the Bab al-Saha area in
Nablus the day of the 22 February raid.

"We had been dispersed across multiple areas to ensure that we could
respond to any injury cases throughout the areas of clashes," Ordonia told
MEE.

'Paramedics are always in the occupation’s bank of targets'

*- Mohammed Ordonia, paramedic*

"We treated a large number of wounds caused by live bullets, rubber
bullets, and tear gas canisters."

Ordonia said that during military raids, Israeli forces do not
differentiate between paramedics, civilians, and resistance fighters.

"You’re a Palestinian, you’re a target. Paramedics are always in the
occupation’s bank of targets," he added.

His fellow paramedic, Hamza Abu Hajar, was seriously wounded in the liver
and spleen while he was trying to treat a wounded Palestinian in December.

"I do not stop thinking of what would happen if I were to be in his place
one day," Ordonia said. "But once we receive the call to save the wounded,
and the moment I wear my paramedic suit, I perform ablution and pray, then
I rush to the field. At that moment, these thoughts stop, and I forget
about death."

In many cases, ambulances are targeted by Israeli gunfire or prevented from
evacuating the wounded and reaching the hospitals.

"Many of the wounded arrive in private cars rather than ambulances. In such
events, the youth of the camp, who also resist the occupation, work as
paramedics," said Nawal Anboussi, a public relations officer at the Ibn
Sina Hospital, adjacent to Jenin camp.
The aftermath of grief Away from street battles, a different type of
battlefield takes place in hospitals during raids.

"As soon as the raid begins, the hospital near the scene of the incident
prepares to receive the wounded. Doctors from all departments are called
upon to ensure that they are fully equipped to receive and treat all
injuries, working tirelessly to save lives," Anboussi said.

The emergency rooms become crowded with victims and their families who rush
to the hospitals to see whether their sons are among the victims, and
whether they are alive.

The wounded arrive one after another, leaving doctors exhausted in their
attempts to save those who are seriously wounded. Their voices can be heard
echoing throughout the hospital, calling for blood donations, or asking
nurses to transfer the wounded to operating rooms or intensive care units.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-raids-palestinian-homes-west-bank>

Night terror: The Israeli raids of Palestinian homes in the West Bank

"Relatives of the wounded wait in the emergency department, not knowing if
their fathers, brothers or sons would survive. But the harshest scene I
have experience was when I comforted a mother of a seriously wounded young
man, telling her that he was going to survive, only to know, ten minutes
later, that he had passed away," Anboussi recalled.

"There are only a few moments between the hope of survival and the fear of
loss."

Last year, Anboussi took part in shrouding Palestinian journalist Shireen
Abu Akleh <https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/shireen-abu-akleh-killing>
after
she was assassinated by Israeli forces, an experience she still cannot
believe she had lived through.

"I was shocked by what happened, and as I was shrouding her, I still could
not believe it. Everyone who saw me that day told me that I appeared to be
unwell."

A few hours after each military raid, and after the special forces retreat,
doctors continue to perform their utmost to save the wounded, while the
dead are mourned and buried.

The entire city usually falls into a state of deep grief, and shops close
down as most West Bank cities observe a general strike.

Military funerals are held for resistance fighters who are killed during
clashes with Israeli forces to honour their struggle against the
occupation, and scores of residents go to the streets to attend funerals,
chanting for Palestine and the victims, and threatening the Israeli
occupation with retaliation.
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