In late January, an undercover Israeli unit disguised as medics carried out a covert operation against Hamas forces in a hospital in the West Bank. The Israeli fighters carried props such as baby carriers and folded wheelchairs through the corridors of the hospital before executing three Hamas fighters, one of whom was identified by the Israel Defense Forces as having recently planned another Oct. 7-style attack in Israel.

Of course, the IDF could have easily used its superior air power to level hospitals in the West Bank and beyond; it did not need to endanger its own forces in a high-risk operation against a terrorist organization that hides in hospitals and schools and uses its people as shields. But Israel has made great efforts to minimize civilian casualties, despite growing international outrage over the number of collateral civilian deaths in Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas, fueled by breathless news media reports that parrot “statistics” provided by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza. News of the covert hospital strike makes this self-evident.