Israeli sharpshooters leave Gaza protesters crippled, literally
Israeli forces deployed along the volatile border with the Gaza Strip have fired live rounds at rockthrowing Palestinian protesters ever since demonstrations against Israel’s longrunning blockade of Gaza began in March.
And for eight months, Israeli snipers have targeted one part of the body more than any other - the legs.
The Israeli army says it is responding to weekly assaults on its frontier by Palestinians armed with stones, grenades and firebombs. The military says it opens fire only as a last resort, and considers firing at the lower limbs an act of restraint.
Still, 175 Palestinians have been shot to death, according to an AP count. And the number of wounded has reached colossal proportions.
Of the 10,511 protesters treated at hospitals and field clinics in Gaza so far, at least 6,392, or roughly 60 percent, have been struck in the lower limbs, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
At least 5,884 of those casualties were hit by live ammunition; others have been hit by rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas canisters.
The upsurge in violence has left a visible mark on Gaza that will likely remain for decades to come.
It is now common to see young men walking through dilapidated streets on crutches. Most have legs bandaged or fitted with metal frames called ‘fixators’, which use pins or screws that are inserted into fractured bones to help stabilise them.
The wounded can often be seen gathering at a treatment clinic run by the Paris-based medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza City.
Some of them acknowledged throwing stones towards Israeli troops during the demonstrations. One of them said he had hurled a firebomb. But others said they were unarmed bystanders. One paramedic said he was helping rescue the wounded, while another man said he was waving a Palestinian flag and another said he was selling coffee and tea.
International human rights groups have said the military’s open-fire rules are unlawful because they allow the use of potentially lethal force in situations where soldiers’ lives are not in immediate danger.