Authorities in public hospitals in Israel have expressed outrage over the phenomenon of Nukhba terrorists being treated in Israeli hospitals, even in cases that are not life-threatening or urgent, Yisrael Hayom reported on Thursday.

Dr. Ilya Chorny, the head of the anesthesia department at the Rabin Medical Center, told Yisrael Hayom: “I encountered a case of a terrorist with a leg injury and there are two options – either amputate the leg, or perform a complex surgery involving vascular, nerve, and bone connections. His life in not in danger. The dilemma is whether to amputate his leg or to carry out a 20-hour operation to save his limb.”

“Unfortunately, he is being treated in an ‘extra’ manner, like we did for Sinwar when he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. We could have just given him chemotherapy and let him survive, but instead, we opted for a complicated surgery to remove the tumor and did everything we could to keep him alive.”

According to Dr. Chorny, this phenomenon is widespread and not limited to just one or two cases. He added that there are no clear instructions regarding the limits of treatment, leading to comprehensive medical care even in non-essential cases.

“I was on reserve duty at Sde Teiman. I saw that in cases like ‘just’ saving a limb or addressing more than that – we constantly do more than that,” he said. “There is no factor that decides what the limit is, how ‘humane’ we have to be, how much we need to treat these terrorists.”

Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yulia Malinovsky slammed the report, saying: “The current situation is intolerable – Nukhba terrorists are receiving medical treatment in public hospitals alongside Israeli citizens, undermining the sense of security of the medical staff and patients, violating natural justice, and creating a burden on the public system at the expense of Israeli citizens.”

“This is self-destruction!” she asserted. “Imagine that a terrorist is lying in a hospital room while the soldier or civilian he tried to kill is in the adjacent room.”

“This absurd situation must change. I submitted a request for an urgent discussion in the National Security Committee and invited all 119 other Knesset members to join the request.”

“The government must wake up and put an end to this scandal. They shouldn’t tell me as usual that they didn’t hear and didn’t know.”

Malinovsky also questioned why the Health Ministry and Prison Services aren’t establishing operating rooms and recovery units in prison facilities, which would allow a complete separation between terrorists and Israeli citizens.

Additionally, she demanded a clear definition of criteria for lifesaving treatments versus non-essential treatments in order to prevent the exploitation of public health resources.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)