Jenin / PNN /

Israeli forces disguised as medical staff and civilians have shot dead three Palestinians inside a hospital in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The killings were carried out by undercover operatives while the men were sleeping at the Ibn Sina Hospital, according to statements issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Israeli army on Tuesday.

“This morning three young men were martyred by the bullets of the occupation [Israeli] forces who stormed the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin and shot them,” the Health Ministry in Ramallah said.

The Israeli army said its troops had “neutralised” the men, who were hiding in the hospital and belonged to a Hamas “terrorist cell”.

Security camera footage circulated online appeared to show about a dozen undercover personnel, including three in women’s clothing and two dressed as medical staff, pacing through a corridor of the hospital with assault rifles.

The Israeli military identified one of the men killed as Mohammad Jalamneh, 27, who it claimed was planning an imminent attack.

The two other men killed, brothers Basil and Mohammad Ghazawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were involved in attacks, the military alleged.

“A gun was found on a wanted person, which was confiscated by the forces,” the army statement added.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said: “One can only imagine the terror of the patients and staff at the hospital in Jenin. It’s just another example of how determined the Israeli army is to keep up raids as it targets armed resistance fighters across the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Hamas said in a statement that the Israeli army’s “crimes will not go unanswered,” adding that the killings are a “continuation of the occupation’s ongoing crimes against our people from Gaza to Jenin”.