In Gaza

One can imagine that were US soldiers to open fire with live ammunition on American protesters, this would not be acceptable.  Likewise for Canada and most democratic nations.

Yet somehow there is a void, a gaping hole in the media into which fall most potential reports on Israeli soldiers shooting with live ammunition on visibly unarmed demonstraters. post continues

*[photo: Max Ajl] Ahmed Deeb before he bled to death from the Israeli-fired explosive bullet which severed his femoral artery.

4:57 pm April 28

An SMS informs me that the young man from Sheik Radwan who was shot by an Israeli soldier today is dead. post continues

UPDATE: AHMED DEEB DIED OF HIS WOUNDS –GUNSHOT TO THE FEMORAL ARTERY –THIS AFTERNOON.

During today’s demonstration at Nahal Oz, eastern Gaza against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone”, IOF soldiers shot one unarmed Palestinian demonstrater, Ahmed Deeb, 21. The bullet severed his femural artery, causing sudden and copious bleeding. Dr. Abdullah el Attar at Shifa hospital confirmed that Ahmed’s injury is serious and that he has lost a lot of blood. Dr. Attar says the bullet used on Ahmed was a “dum dum”, an exploding bullet which, on impact, breaks into many pieces.

At the time of visiting Shifa hospital, Ahmed had been rushed to surgery. He is the 9th unarmed protester to be shot by the IOF in less than 1 month, including the three shot last week, one of which was a female international solidarity acitivist from Malta, another of which was a visibly unarmed Palestinian young woman.

*Ahmed Deeb being carried off after he is shot in the femural artery with an exploding bullet by an Israeli soldier. Palestinian medics say that of leg shooting injuries they have seen, IOF soldiers regularly aim for the artery.  If not treated immediately, an artery wound can lead to death due to the heavy bleeding.

see related posts:

What threat did I pose the Israeli soldiers?

endless casualties of Israel’s “buffer zone” [Nahal Oz shooting April 14]

IOF assaults on Land Day demos: 4 youths shot at close range [March 30 shootings]

Palestinian demos continue non-violent against a violent Israeli army

Israeli invasion into southeastern Gaza kills 4, injures 8, destroys a home and ravages farmland

Israeli soldiers target Gaza’s poorest, including children

psst… voices calling loud

popular resistance lives on in Gaza

Homes and livelihoods gone in an instant

how Israeli policies and attacks have ravaged Gaza’s agricultural sector

where is the buffer zone?

Israel destroying Gaza’s farmlands: arson in Johr ad Dik

reclaiming Gaza’s land

the young bird keeper

lost livelihoods

dignified beyond losses

The Israeli shooting left me paralyzed

still bleeding after all these days

harvest challenges

Lost in the Buffer Zone

some days you get shot at

farmers under fire

54 days

rising casualties in the buffer zone

buffer zone widow

Dirty Tricks: Israeli Soldiers Shoot Deaf Palestinian Farmer, 4th Farmer Shot in 3 weeks

the third hit her in the kneecap

Abu Taima’s land

The latest in a growing number of non-violent protesters shot by well-armed Israeli soldiers, three unarmed demonstrators –two Palestinians and one international–were injured this afternoon by Israeli soldiers’ firing with live ammunition at a protest east of El Meghazi, central Gaza Strip.  One week prior, Mahmoud Shawa, 19, was shot just below his knee by an Israeli soldier while demonstrating near the Nahal Oz crossing, eastern Gaza.  March 30, four Palestinians were shot by armed Israeli soldiers while participating in non-violent demonstrations against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone”.  Three of the four were injured by bullets or bullet shrapnel to their legs, while the fourth was shot in the head. post continues

(IPS)  By Eva Bartlett- Nine-year-old Ismail spends every afternoon herding his family’s flock of sheep and goats, a scraggly group of roughly 20 animals. They live in a shanty house district near Tel el Howa in Gaza City, where growth is sparse to non-existent.

“I walk all over to find food for the animals,” he says, swishing his stick to move them along.

His and other flocks can be found throughout the Strip, walking city streets and scavenging vacant lots where rubbish has accumulated, scrounging for any edibles. post continues

It was an early morning, farmers relieved to have harvested the 6 dunam (1 dunam is roughly 1000 square metres) field of lentils planted 5 months ago in Al Faraheen borderlands.  The village, east of Khan Younis, includes land cut off to farmers by the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone”.  That technically 300 metre no-go zone stretching south to north along Gaza’s border with Israel actually extends far beyond the few hundred metres, up to 2 km in some areas where Palestinian civilians have been shot, injured or killed, by Israeli soldiers while on their land.

Abu Qater Tabbash has 100 dunams of land he can no longer access, he says, because it lies in the buffer zone. The land he worked today, along with 5 women from his family, is rented land.  Their crop will not pay off, but it will provide lentils for the family and hay for their animals.

“I knew they were going to do something today,” says Jaber Abu Rjila.  “I saw the bulldozers line up at the border yesterday and knew today there’d be a party,” making light of his dangerous reality.

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Mohammed Abu Jerrad, 12, works with his older brother and 4 others to gather their wheat. Although it is still somewhat early for harvesting, the family hopes to harvest their 5 dunams quickly, preferring the early harvest over the possibility that Israeli soldiers will demolish or lit afire their crops, as they have routinely done in the past. post continues

Mahmoud Shawa, 19, was shot just below the knee by an Israeli soldier during a non-violent demonstration against the Israeli-imposed ‘buffer zone’ near Nahal Oz border crossing. He arrived at Shifa Hospital bleeding heavily.

Although in great pain and having lost a considerable amount of blood, Shawa was able to clarify that, no, the Israeli soldiers did not give any warning before they shot him in the leg.
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Beit Hanoun, April 13 demonstration against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone” and the Israeli army brutality which comes with it.  For many months, Palestinians have been marching in Beit Hanoun and other border regions, stretching down to the south-eastern Rafah border. Armed with flags, voices, spirit, and very aware of the dangers from the Israeli soldiers, Palestinian women, men, and youths march, singing, chanting and proclaiming their right to live, work and be on Palestinian land.
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Abu Basel (right) is one of the long-termers, having served over 20 years as a medic in Gaza.

“Who will take care of people if not us? Someone has to do this work. Without medics, who will care for the injured? Everyone has something to contribute,” he replied to the question ‘why do you do such dangerous work?’

Dangerous work.  Being a medic hardly seems dangerous…anywhere else.  But in a place like Palestine, medics have to contend with more than tending to the injured or bringing in the dead.  They have to be aware of Israeli soldiers’ shooting, shelling from Apaches, F-16s, tanks, the sea…of being detained at military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank or during Israeli invasions into Gaza. post continues