Shooting survivor in SA for reconstructive surgery
FOR Mohammed Tamimi, it’s the small things he’s looking forward to most after his reconstructive surgery, expected to take place in Johannesburg this weekend.
Mohammed, 15, is a Palestinian boy who was allegedly shot in the face by Israeli soldiers during riots.
“I want to be able to go outside. I am not allowed to stay in the sun too much. And I want to be able to run with my friends,” he said through a translator and relative, Osama Tamimi.
“I am not afraid. I want to go to the beach and I want girls to like me again,” he told a small crowd that gathered to welcome him to Durban.
Mohammed, his father Fadel and relative Osama arrived in the city yesterday. The trip was made possible by local NGO Shamsaan, which decided to step in after seeing Mohammed’s post on Facebook, asking for help to have reconstructive surgery.
The shooting left Mohammed with serious injuries. A team of five doctors will try to fix his skull. Much of his skull had to be removed to reduce swelling after a rubber bullet went through his nose and lodged in his brain.
He has partial sight in his left eye, which is receding into his skull because there is no pressure on the socket.
Mohammed will celebrate his 16th birthday next month in South Africa as he is expected to remain in the country until December.
The Tamimis have become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli oppression. Mohammed’s father has been arrested numerous times, his older brother is in detention, and Mohammed has been arrested several times, including after his injury.
He was shot in riots after President Donald Trump announced the US would move its embassy to Jerusalem. He said the riots led to shootings and after the shooting stopped, he looked over the barricade and was shot.