A group of several dozen Druze men took part on Friday in a mission to snatch the body of dead religious leader Shiekh Abu Aladdin Hassan Halabi of Majdal Shams from Sieff Hospital in Safed, where he had died of COVID-19.
The men, all residents of Majdal Shams, wrangled with security guards but eventually left the hospital carrying the sheikh's body.
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The men brought his remains to their Golan Heights community and held a funeral, which thousands of people attended despite the public health restrictions that put limits on the number of people allowed at public gatherings.
Majdal Shams is coded red under the Health Ministry's stoplight plan and is under lockdown due to the high number of new COVID cases identified there.
MK Idur Kamal Mariah, a member of the Druze community, responded to social media reports about the incident, writing on Twitter: "I absolutely condemn the incident at Sieff Hospital in Safed an hour ago. This behavior is not appropriate for the honored departed sheikh's stature. We must all behave according to Health Ministry regulations."
Meanwhile, Sieff Hospital is criticizing the police, claiming that police officers stood by while the sheikh's body was taken.
"Dozens of impassioned Druze started to shove in, and there was only a security guard and a security officer to fend them off. On the other side, there were three police officers who stood to the site and watched what was happening without doing a thing," a hospital official said.
"They [the Druze] broke a metal barrier, smashed the guard booth, went down to the basement, broke into the morgue, and took the sheikh's body," the official continued.
Earlier Friday, it was reported that a 76-year-old confirmed COVID patient from the Golan Heights had been rushed to Sieff Hospital in very serious condition. The man was already in a coma and on a ventilator, and paramedics were trying to resuscitate him. Doctors at the hospital continued attempts to save his life, to no avail.
It later became apparent that the man was one of the most revered sheikhs in the Druze community in Israel. Originally, members of the community planned to lay his body out on a soccer field in Majdal Shams to allow people to pay their last respects. Outgoing corona chief Professor Ronni Gamzu and Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Professor Itamar Grotto were informed of the plan and objected to it on the grounds that people would flock to the location.
Hospital director Professor Salman Zarka, himself a member of the Druze community, spoke to Druze leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, who eventually agreed to call off the planned final respects out of concern for public health.
Later Friday evening, the group of Druze men took the law into their own hands and removed the sheikh's body from the premises.
The funeral took place on Saturday, attended by thousands. However, footage taken shows that participants appeared to have followed social distancing guidelines, with chairs set far apart.
A commission has been appointed to investigate the incident of the hospital rain and the conduct of police officers at the funeral. the incident and evaluate the conduct of police
Tarif has made it clear that neither the leaders of the Druze community nor the family of the deceased were linked to the break-in at the hospital.
"The incident that occurred at the Sieff Medical Center in Safed is not linked to a decision by the leaders of the community or the family of the deceased," Tarif told the Kan public broadcaster.
Part of this article was first published by i24NEWS.
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