Monday, June 10, 2013

Palestinian man shot by Israeli rifle fire

10th June 2013 | International Action for Palestine, Nicholas Lillard | Khuza’a, Occupied Palestine

A twenty-one year old named Amer Abu Hadayed was shot while working today in Gaza Strip’s buffer zone. His routine of extracting stones used for building by hand was disrupted when multiple shots were directed at him from one of four Israeli vehicles located on the other side of the apartheid fence.
Amer was not a threat to the army, nor was he threatening the safety of any Israeli. He is a civilian that was doing his job along with three coworkers in a field east of Rafah, near the Sufa landfill.
Myself and another International activist heard the gunfire from a distance while accompanying other harvesters north of the area where the aggression ensued.
Abu Hadayed gave us an account of the event while in a frail condition at the European hospital’s ICU unit. The soldier that fired upon him stepped out from one of three jeeps that regularly patrol the border which is in coordination with an armored hummer that has a large, remote controlled gun mounted on top of it. This sort of weaponry is supposedly for the security of the rest of the patrol.

Amer Abu Hadayed (Photo: Nicholas Lillard)
Amer Abu Hadayed in the hospital (Photo by Nicholas Lillard)

This attack of a young man proceeds a violation that incidentally was inflicted upon another twenty-one year old named Ahmad Hamdan eight days ago. Ahmad was injured by a bullet on the second of June, the impact caused a fracturing of his right femur.
In Amer’s case he did not receive any bone fracturing and based upon the placement of the wound such an injury would be a minor concern compared to the alternatives. The bullet entered the left side of his upper chest, barely missing his lung. The path of the projectile also missed hitting the auxiliary artery that is mere inches from the lung, this location also holds an extensive amount of nerves which were apparently missed as well. Amer moved his arm around to show that he continues to have at least partial range of motion. He will remain in the ICU for another day so that any potential complications can be monitored and dealt with immediately. The nurses said that his bleeding is minimal and that they’re mostly watching his recovery to make sure no hemorrhaging is going to take place.
This incident is nothing short of a crime that was orchestrated by the Israeli army to further oppress the Palestinian people. It is a clear violation of Amer Abu Hadayed’s human rights and yet another example of the continued ethnic cleansing the Zionist regime perpetrates on a regular basis.