Tag: Sniper

Demonstrator injured last week in Gaza undergoing two surgeries

December 11th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Karni border crossing, Gaza, occupied Palestine

Ahmad has to undergo a second surgery soon

Last week, during the demonstration at Karni Border Crossing, Ahmad Nabil El-Akhsham (28 years old) was shot in the leg. He was there, as he had been every Friday since the beginning of October. At some point he and the other protestors saw a female IOF soldier pointing her gun at them and immediately he felt a very intense pain in his leg, “it was as if I was receiving a 1000V electric shock”.

The next thing he remembers is that the other demonstrators where carrying him towards the road where the ambulances were waiting. The ambulance couldn’t reach them because the soldiers were shooting towards the medics if they approached the demonstrators.

He arrived unconscious to the hospital, due to the heavy loss of blood. After a first surgery, the doctors explained that the way ha was carried to the ambulance highly aggravated the injury, as he was carried by a group of unexperienced youth who were mostly trying not to get shot.

The shot blew away all of his calf and broke his bone in many small pieces. During the first surgery, they put 5 metal bars in order to try to save his leg. Next time the doctors will try to perform a graft in order to reconstruct the calf.

We asked Ahmad why he kept on going to the demonstrations, and this what he said: “We must show that the people in Gaza, West Bank and the 48 lands are all the same, we are all Palestinians and we are united. We fight together for our land. I’m not afraid of dying for my land”.

Video: Israeli soldiers celebrate shooting an 18-year-old

12th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On August 9^th in Hebron, Israeli soldiers celebrated shooting an 18-year-old Palestinian youth in the leg with live ammunition.

The Canadian volunteer, Vern, who witnessed the soldier firing, stated, “After the soldiers left the roof, I went to confront them about why they had fired. One of them said to me that he was the one who fired and that he was proud of his actions. He then asked me to take his picture.”

The hospital released a document to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stating that the injury of the young man was a gunshot wound to the right calf, and that the injury required surgery under general anaesthetic.

“This is not the first time protesters have been seriously injured or killed while not being a threat to the Israeli military. On Friday (8^th August) in Hebron, 40-year-old Nader Mohammad Edrees was shot in the heart by an Israeli sniper. He died several hours later. This murder was caught on video, and it is clear that Nader was no threat whatsoever when he was killed, in clear contradiction of Israeli military policy and international law.” Stated Issa Amro, Human Rights Defender with Youth Against Settlements (YAS), based in Hebron.

According to Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, grave breaches against protected people, such as Palestinians, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, include wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.

Israeli Human Rights group B’tselem states that, “the army’s open-fire regulations clearly stipulate that live ammunition should not be used against stone-throwers, except in cases of immediate mortal danger.”

Video of Israeli sniper killing wounded civilian

21st July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

See Update here

Yesterday, international and Palestinian volunteers accompanied Civil Defence and other rescue crews, as well as family members, into Shajiya neighbourhood in Gaza. They attempted to locate survivors of overnight and ongoing shelling by the Israeli army. A young Palestinian man in a green shirt hoped to find his family. He was shot by an Israeli soldier while crossing an alley between buildings. Two additional rounds struck him as he lay injured on the ground. His dead body could not be retrieved.

The ambulance shown in the video was shelled by the Israeli military, killing paramedic Faud Jaber.

Dr Mona el-Farra of the Red Crescent Society in Gaza told ISM that, “The Israeli military is targeting medical facilities. 77% of medical facilities in Gaza have sustained damage, some of which have been completely destroyed.”

“They said we would be able to evacuate the injured from the disaster zone, but they have been shelling ambulances,” stated Dr Khalil Abu Foul of the Palestinian Red Crescent, speaking from Shajiya.