At least three Hezbollah terror operatives captured during Israel’s recent round of fighting with the Iran-backed group received medical treatment at Ziv Medical Center in Safed, where they were held under IDF guard while receiving care, two sources with direct knowledge told The Times of Israel.

The same northern hospital has also recently treated a young Syrian Druze civilian from the village of Hader, near the Israeli-Syrian border, who was accompanied by her mother, according to a separate source, also with direct knowledge.

The cases — which the IDF and Ziv hospital did not deny — raise questions regarding Israel’s military and humanitarian medical policy, as well as domestic controversy over treating enemy fighters inside civilian hospitals.

According to the sources, the Hezbollah terrorists were treated at Ziv roughly two weeks ago, and kept handcuffed and blindfolded in a room guarded by IDF soldiers.

The treatment of Hezbollah operatives in a civilian hospital would be an apparent contravention of a Health Ministry decision, made shortly after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, that captured terrorists would only be treated in the medical facilities of the IDF or the Israel Prison Service — though that decision has reportedly been contravened before, and focused mainly on Hamas terrorists in the aftermath of the massacre.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office did not deny the sources’ accounts. In a written response to The Times of Israel, it said that over the past year, it had arrested individuals suspected of involvement in terror activity against Israeli civilians or troops, and that detainees requiring medical care receive it from IDF medical personnel or, when medically necessary, are transferred to hospitals.

Ziv Medical Center also declined to confirm the details to The Times of Israel, citing medical confidentiality, privacy, and security considerations, but did not deny that such patients had been treated there. The hospital said it operates according to law, state directives, and medical ethics, and provides care to anyone brought to it whose medical condition requires treatment.

The Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Treated as required, guarded ’24/7′

In its response, the IDF said that “as part of the IDF’s effort to........

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