Banksy auction raises #2.9m for Palestinian hospital

Works by secretive street artist Banksy sold for 2.2 million pounds (2.9 million dollars) at an auction in aid of a hospital in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, Dpa-international.com reports, citing the auctioneers.

The price was far higher than anticipated. Earlier, the British auction house Sotheby's had estimated that Banksy's "Mediterranean Sea View 2017," comprising three oil paintings, would sell for 800,000 to 1.2 million pounds.

The three paintings have until recently hung in the lobby of the "Walled Off Hotel" co-designed by the artist in Bethlehem, very close to the barrier Israel has built with the West Bank.

The triptych shows a coastline on the Mediterranean with life jackets washed up on the beach, in critique of the European migrant crisis.

All proceeds are to be used for a new acute stroke unit and to purchase children's rehabilitation equipment for the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR) hospital in Bethlehem, Sotheby's said.