Hospital Director or Operations Manager? Hamas and the Tale of the Plastered Ambulance!
In one of the most exciting episodes of Middle Eastern drama, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet managed to hit not one bird with one stone, but 240 birds! This operation took place at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, Gaza, which seemed to be not just a hospital but also Hamas’s headquarters.
The Doctor, the Ambulance, and the Miraculous Cast
The hospital director, Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, who was, according to the IDF, walking around patients playing the part of the “good manager,” was actually a high-ranking Hamas operative. He even tried escaping the hospital using an ambulance that was allegedly ready to “urgently” move patients (and perhaps a few terrorists) out.
Of course, this wily doctor acted like a screen idol, but his mask slipped when the nabbed terrorists blew his cover. It now appears his side gig was somewhere between “escape operations manager” and “Hamas’s behind-the-scenes director”!
The Plastered Terrorists
During arrests, one of the terrorists had his arm freshly cast and managed to make it look like he had just had it cast a few minutes earlier, trying to act like a real victim. But his acting was so much like actors in comedy movies that the IDF forces took one look and said, “Buddy, you can’t fool us!”
When the Masks Fell
Staff Sergeant (Res.) G., who played the part of a “professional detective” in this operation, said Dr. Husam was at first walking confidently around the hospital, perhaps thinking, “No one would dare suspect me.” But when he saw his friends being arrested, as the saying goes, “his face turned as white as plaster!”
Hospital or Hamas Headquarters?
This operation showed that sometimes it was difficult to tell the difference between a real patient and a Hamas actor. The hospital, an institution of healing, was turned into an operations base. The ambulances, instead of carrying patients, were at the ready, presumably to transport “Hamas VIPs.”
In the end, this was more like an episode of an action-comedy series than a military operation. Perhaps the best lesson is: “If you’re going to pretend to be a patient, at least make your cast look believable!”
Source: The Jerusalem Post
