Amid widespread anger, the public hospitals in Israel have refused to accept wounded Hamas militants who are being brought for medical treatment. According to local media reports, members of an ultranationalist group gathered at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv where a Hamas militant was brought for medical treatment.
The group scuffled with police, following which the militant was sent to a prison medical facility. A spokesperson for the Sheba Medical Centre told reporters that a “Hamas terrorist was brought to the hospital for treatment but senior hospital staff refused to accept him.”
Following the incident, the authorities have reportedly shifted all the injured Hamas militants to the country’s prison service medical facilities.
Anger runs high in Israel after the brutal Hamas assault that killed scores of civilians, including children and women. On Wednesday, Israeli Health Minister Moshe Arbel wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informing him about his decision to send all the injured Hamas militants 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, according to the Times of Israel.
He told Netanyahu that the public hospitals in Israel need to focus on treating victims of the Hamas assault.
“The task of treating and providing security for the accursed terrorists in the public healthcare system just detracts from this,” he wrote.
More than 1,300 people, including children, women and foreign nationals, were killed in the barbaric Hamas assault on October 7 when scores of Gazan militants invaded Israel.
In Response to the attack, Israel declared a war against Hamas and launched hundreds of air strikes on militant hideouts in the Gaza Strip. At least 1,100 Gazans have been killed in Israeli air strikes since Saturday.