'We had a lot of moral questions' – Inside Israel’s prison hospital treating Hamas terrorists behind Oct 7 atrocities

Located within Israel’s high-security Ayalon Prison in Ramla, the Israel Prison Service hospital is currently treating 99 patients, many of whom are classified as dangerous terrorists – including Hamas Nukhba terrorists who played key roles in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, which killed over 1,200 Israelis and resulted in the kidnapping of 251 people from southern border communities.

There has been intense debate in Israel over whether the country should provide medical treatment to terrorists who have murdered Israeli citizens, including women and children. Dr. Dmitry Klutzky, deputy commissioner at the prison hospital, addresses the ethical dilemma of treating seriously ill, yet dangerous terrorists.

“The law on medical release is extremely strict and requires proof that the inmate is in his final moments,” Klutzky said. 

“I have a cancer patient in grave condition, but since he might live another six months, I can’t release him. Sometimes, even the inmates themselves don’t want to be released – because they have no family support system waiting for them,” he continued. 

Klutzky explained the logic behind establishing an advanced hospital inside a high-security prison. 

“Instead of sending security inmates to outside medical appointments, the prison is developing the capacity to treat them internally. We’ve built a comprehensive medical system here, including the ability to administer blood transfusions, to prevent terrorists from being moved outside. With the help of a major hospital, we receive blood units directly at our facility.”

“We’re doing everything we can to protect public safety while still remaining human,” he added.

While Israel’s healthcare workers are bound by a medical ethic to treat all patients, they, nevertheless, often face the moral dilemma of treating terrorists who have blood on their hands. 

“In the first days of the war, we had a lot of moral questions – how do we treat them? Is it right to treat them?” said a nurse named Yulia. 

“We cried, we were in pain, but in the end, we told ourselves this is the mission the system gave us, and this is what we must do. We serve in a hierarchical organization, and we do our jobs just like we did before. My professional duty won out,” she explained. 

However, Yulia acknowledged feeling conflicted about providing medical care to murderous war criminals.

“I know that the hand whose blood pressure I’m checking – whose pulse I’m measuring – committed atrocities,” Yulia said. 

She recalled an encounter with one of the first Nukhba terrorists brought to the hospital, who was bedridden and unable to lift his head.

"I had to hold his water cup so he could swallow a pill and help him sip – and it broke me. To show compassion to someone like that, knowing what he did, was unimaginable. He’s a rapist and a murderer – and still, we treated him. That’s a moment I haven’t recovered from. I remember walking out of the room after caring for him and just breaking down in tears,” Yulia said.

Klutzky added, “The nurses here treated terrorists who carried out the massacre in the south. There were sessions with psychologists to process it – because it breaks you from within. And still, we’re doctors. Despite how difficult it is, we save lives."

Israel has long provided medical treatment to wounded terrorists, often in the same hospitals where their victims were receiving care. However, following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, Israel adopted a new policy: for security reasons, wounded Hamas terrorists would no longer be treated in public hospitals but instead transferred to secure prison medical facilities.

“Since the beginning of the war, the issue of treating the accursed Hamas terrorists in public hospitals has created great strain on the healthcare system,” Israeli Health Minister Moshe Arbel stated in October 2023. 

Instead, it was decided that injured and ill terrorists would be transferred to prison medical facilities like the one at Ayalon Prison.