They assassinated Palestinians inside hospitals, What do we know about the Israeli Musta’rabim apparatus?

On Tuesday, a team of Musta'rabs carried out an assassination of three Palestinians inside Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin. This brought to attention the crimes of this special division of the Israeli army, which disguised itself in Arab costumes to carry out its crimes against the Palestinian people.

On Tuesday, Israel assassinated three Palestinian young men inside Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin. According to what the Palestinian News Agency reported , the martyrs were the two brothers Muhammad and Basil Ayman al-Ghazawi, in addition to Muhammad Walid Jalamneh, who were receiving treatment in the hospital before their martyrdom.

The official Palestinian News Agency said, “About 10 Israeli Special Forces soldiers, who disguised themselves in civilian clothes as doctors, nurses, and Palestinian women’s clothing, infiltrated the hospital individually, headed to the third floor, and assassinated the young men using pistols equipped with a silencer.”

Video clips documenting the operation showed armed men wearing civilian clothes and with features resembling Palestinians, roaming the hospital halls. The Al-Qassam Brigades stated that the martyr Muhammad Walid Jalamneh is “a leader in the movement and a media spokesman for it, while Muhammad Ayman al-Ghazawi is one of the founders of the Jenin Brigade affiliated with the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement.”

This assassination brings to attention the role played by the Musta'rab apparatus in the Israeli army, which consists of fighters who have Palestinian features and speak Arabic, which helps them disguise themselves and infiltrate local communities in the West Bank and Gaza in order to carry out espionage operations, arrests, and assassinations against Palestinians.

Israelis dressed as Arabs!

The Musta'rabs are a special forces unit affiliated with the Israeli army. They are distinguished by their ability to infiltrate Palestinian popular gatherings and carry out their intelligence tasks, including collecting information and carrying out arrests and assassinations.

They are helped in infiltrating and carrying out these operations by disguising themselves in bodies resembling Palestinians, with their mastery of the Arabic language and knowledge of Palestinian popular culture and the Islamic religion, in addition to the fact that they are chosen from recruits with Arab features.

Before being implanted into Palestinian society, these recruits in the Musta'rabib apparatus are trained to master Palestinian dialects and know Islamic worship and local customs and traditions. This is in addition to training them to know the alleys and alleys in the cities and towns in which they work, as if they were raised there.

According to Amir Boukhbout, the military correspondent for the Israeli Walla website, “The Musta’rabim go out for their mission in cars with Palestinian license plates, wear Palestinian clothes, and have a sufficient and proficient command of the spoken local dialect, while always being prepared for any unexpected surprises.”

Boukhbout adds: “They enjoy their knowledge of the shops, the local families, the personalities who dominate the camp, and the general mood in the street, including those who got married yesterday,The dress they wear depends on the prevailing circumstances and the required practice, and at the moment of truth the revelation takes place.” of the weapon being used, so that it is ready to fire.”

Their establishment and work

According to Israeli researcher Ofer Adarat, the idea of ​​establishing the Musta'rab unit appeared in the early 1950s, at the hands of an officer in the Internal Security Service (Shin Bet) named Shmuel Moriah. In 1953, Moriah established the secret Musta'rab unit, which initially consisted of ten fighters. It was formed from Jewish immigrants from Arab countries, who underwent intensive training, and were forced into Arab towns inside Palestine.

At that time, according to the Israeli researcher, the work of these Musta’rabs did not stop at carrying out a special mission and then returning to their military bases. Rather, they remained residing in the Arab towns, including forming a complete Arab family, and their external appearance was acceptable to the Arab environment, so that they could blend in without provocation. There are no suspicions, and some of them were cut off from their Jewish families for long periods of time.

Other sources indicate that the establishment of the Musta'rabim dates back to before this date, and they were originally part of the so-called "Jewish Palmach", which is the elite division of the "Haganah" militia, which later became the nucleus of the Israeli army, and was established as a result of cooperation between the Zionist movement and the authorities. The British Mandate in Palestine during World War II, as the British needed intelligence agents to infiltrate the local population in the Levant and confront the German advance.

Following the first Palestinian Intifada, the Israeli occupation became more dependent on the Musta'rabs, and their role in suppressing the resistance movements of the Palestinian people became prominent. A group of Israeli army brigades contains undercover soldiers, including the "Samson" unit (Unit 367), which operates in the south near the Gaza border, the "Yamas" unit linked to the Israeli border police and mainly operating in occupied Jerusalem, and the "Gedonim" unit (Unit 33). ), an Israeli police force operating inside Israel.

Today, according to Walla's military correspondent, the work of the undercover agents begins "as soon as the so-called golden information reaches the General Security Service (Shin Bet) about the location of the Palestinian militants hidden in the heart of the refugee camp." After that, “the assigned special force is quickly identified and sent first to the mission, to continue the operation, in preparation for clearing the way for other combat forces.”

The correspondent adds, "As soon as the Musta'rabs know the location of the wanted Palestinians, the occupation soldiers enter in their armored military vehicles, accompanied by technological units to collect intelligence information, knowing that it is customary for the Musta'rabs to enter the camp under the guise of trucks to distribute food or vegetables, and collect documents from street cameras, most of which we saw." on social media networks, as happened in Nablus and Jenin.”

There are many tasks for which the Musta'rabs are used, the most important of which is the arrest and liquidation of Fedayeen and Palestinian resistance leaders. They are also used to suppress Palestinian protests, as they infiltrate among the demonstrators and carry out arrests.

The World Health Organization has warned of the risk of famine in Gaza, explaining that it is escalating due to the ongoing hostilities and restricted access to humanitarian aid, noting that some countries’ suspension of their funding to UNRWA will lead to “catastrophic consequences” for the residents of the Strip.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that the risk of famine in the Gaza Strip is escalating due to ongoing hostilities and restricted humanitarian access.

Ghebreyesus made this during a weekly press conference with the Executive Director of the Organization's Emergency Program, Mike Ryan, in Geneva.

Ghebreyesus explained that the World Health Organization is still facing difficulties in supporting the health system and health care workers in Gaza.

He pointed out that the organization faced major obstacles even in reaching hospitals in southern Gaza.

He stated, "Violent clashes were reported near hospitals in (the city of) Khan Yunis, and patients, workers, and medical supplies were prevented from reaching health care facilities."

Regarding the suspension of some countries’ funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Ghebreyesus said: “The decision of those countries will lead to “catastrophic consequences” for the residents of Gaza.”

Ghebreyesus continued, "There is no organization other than UNRWA that has the capacity to provide aid of this size to 2.2 million people in Gaza," calling on donors to reevaluate their decision.

Since January 26, 18 countries and the European Union have decided to suspend their funding to UNRWA, based on Israel’s allegations that 12 of the agency’s employees participated in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, on Israeli settlements adjacent to Gaza.