Police are currently asking for the public’s help in undertaking a manhunt for five thugs who beat up three security personnel at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov hospital’s emergency room (ER).

The scenario played out following a patient’s attempt to steal a nurse’s cell phone from her hands just after 03:00 on Thursday morning. The patient is known to the hospital staff and both her and her family have in the past threatened the ER doctors, nurses and security personnel. She has even been forcibly removed from the hospital previously. A security agent was immediately dispatched to aid the nurse and attempted to separate the patient from the nurse she was attacking.

Some thirty minutes after the initial incident occurred and after the hospital staff assumed that the incident was over, a car stopped at the entrance to the ER. Five men exited the car which  was a Skoda whose license plate number was 80-443-76.One of the men was armed with a pistol and all five began to attack the security guards at the entrance, delivering continuous crushing blows to all parts of his body. The men then got back into their car, continued act of violence against people in the ambulance bay, where they were illegally parked, before speeding off.

Three security guards at the hospital were attacked and were lightly to moderately injured. They suffered broken teeth, bruising ad swelling in their faces and upper bodies, and broken and cracked bones. The medical and nursing staff was left shocked and afraid following the violent acts outside their doors.

Police have stated that they have taken into custody two suspects, but that they are continuing the search for the remaining three attackers. The patient has also been taken into police custody for her suspected involvement in the attack.

Professor Roni Gimzu who is the chief of medicine at the medical center said; “This is a very serious incident that reeks of the criminal underworld who attacked medical personnel and the security guards who protected the medical personnel with life and limb. I have since decided to appoint a police officer at the entrance to the hospital who will be present at all times, and I hope that other hospitals do the same. I call on the police force, the Minister of Public Safety and the City of Tel Aviv not to rest until these criminals are found. I hope that the judicial system will see bring these criminals to justice so that we can finally establish a deterrent to those seeking to attack medical personnel in their places of work.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)