Israeli Health Ministry tells public hospitals to stop treating terrorists
Oct 12, 2023
Tel Aviv [Israel], October 12 (ANI/TPS): Israel's outgoing Health Minister Moshe Arbel has instructed all public hospitals to stop treating Hamas terrorists, he announced in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening.
"Since the beginning of the fighting, the issue of treating the damned and despicable Hamas terrorists within the public hospitals has piled up a tremendous difficulty on the health system," wrote the Health Minister.
"In these difficult times, the health system should focus fully on the treatment of the victims of the criminal massacre, IDF soldiers and readiness for the next [attack]," Arbel explained.
"The task of securing and treating the cursed and despicable terrorists within the public health system significantly harms these efforts and therefore, under my guidance, the public health system will not treat them," he added.
Arbel called on Netanyahu to "immediately" instruct the relevant bodies to act in accordance with the new directive.
"The director-general of the Ministry of Health spoke with the director-general of the Ministry of Defense to prepare to treat terrorists in the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] facilities instead of hospitals," Israel's Channel 12 News quoted Arbel as saying.
Arbel will be replaced as Health Minister by MK Uriel Bosso. The Cabinet is going through a reshuffle with the formation of an emergency unity coalition that was announced on Wednesday. Arbel will become Minister of Interior.
Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital (Sourasky Medical Center) announced on Wednesday night that a terrorist who had been brought to the hospital was turned away from the emergency room. Instead, the injured terrorist was sent to an Israeli Prison Service clinic in Ramla.
"There is not a single terrorist in our intensive care unit," Sourasky Medical Center confirmed on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, a number of Israelis protested outside the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan following incorrect reports that three Hamas terrorists were being treated there. Police forcibly evicted the protesters and made three arrests. A Sheba spokesperson confirmed to the Tazpit Press Service that no terrorists were being treated there.
Other Israeli medical centers announced that no terrorists had been brought to their facilities.
On Saturday morning, Hamas terrorists infiltrated several Israeli communities, killing at least 1,200 people and taking at least 100 hostages back to Gaza. According to a Health Ministry update on Thursday morning, 3,297 Israelis have been injured in shooting and rocket attacks. (ANI/TPS)
