The Israeli media was, generally speaking, greatly impressed by the Nov. 12 plainclothes​ operation by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit of soldiers disguised as Palestinians at the Al-Ahli hospital in Hebron. Their coverage lauded the operation, highlighted by images from hospital security cameras. “Reality triumphs imagination,” wrote Walla!, while Channel 2 proclaimed, “Coming full circle in a dramatic raid on a hospital.”

The operation in Hebron was developed and implemented to apprehend Azzam Shalaldeh, who on Oct. 25 carried out a stabbing attack in the Etzion settlement bloc, moderately wounding Yisrael Ben Aharon. Despite his injury, the victim was able to fire shots at his assailant, wounding him in the foot before he was able to flee the scene and seek care at Al-Ahli hospital.

The security cameras captured the arrival of the soldiers, posing as family members escorting a pregnant woman ready to give birth, supposedly wheeling her to the delivery room. The 20-strong unit, whose members sported beards and wore kaffiyehs, carried weapons concealed under their clothes and a blanket that covered the belly of the “pregnant woman.” Revealing themselves, the soldiers drew their guns in a surprise maneuver. They captured Shalaldeh in his room on the third floor. According to a statement by an IDF spokesperson, Abdullah Shalaldeh, a relative of the wanted man, was killed during the operation when he attacked unit members in trying to scuttle his cousin's arrest.

Jehad Shawar, Al-Ahli director, condemned the IDF operation inside the medical facility, arguing it was a flagrant violation of international law. Physicians for Human Rights also denounced the raid, stating, “Time after time, the security forces egregiously violate the special protection awarded to hospitals and medical facilities, thereby putting the patients, medical staff and visitors at risk.” According to the organization, since early October, more than 42 cases resulting in harm to medical staff have been recorded in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the forcible removal of wounded persons from ambulances as well as raids at hospital. Also in October, the organization sent a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and Maj. Gen. Yoav "Poli" Mordechai, coordinator of government operations in the territories, protesting Israeli violations of the rules of medical neutrality.