Indomitable spirit
▶ More than 800 people have been shot by Israeli forces in three days, says Gaza Health Ministry
Palestinian teenager Bassel Al Helo winced in pain as he rolled over in a hospital bed on Sunday, after he was shot by Israeli soldiers during a protest on the Gaza-Israel border.
It could take years for the 16-year-old to recover from the deep leg wound sustained at Friday’s demonstration but he says he would do it again.
“I don’t regret it,” he said, as his mother beside him buried her head in her hands with a resigned smile.
Throughout Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, young Palestinians lay wounded, surrounded by doting relatives handing out chocolates.
By yesterday, the Palestinian death toll had reached 18, with hundreds wounded after a mass protest near the border led to clashes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
It was the deadliest single day in the territory since a 2014 war with Israel.
The ministry said more than 800 Gazans had been shot by Israeli forces since Friday.
Israel’s military said it fired only at those who were throwing stones and fire-bombs or rolling burning tyres at soldiers.
It also alleged there were efforts to damage the fortified fence cutting off the blockaded Gaza Strip and to infiltrate Israel, as well as an attempt to shoot at soldiers.
Palestinians said protesters were shot while posing no danger to the soldiers, while rights groups have questioned Israel’s use of live fire through the fence and what danger the soldiers were faced with.
Some of the injured said that they were at the front throwing stones at soldiers, while others said they were struck seemingly at random.
They felt they had little to lose because of dire poverty in Gaza and that they would return to protest once they had recovered.
“I was a little way from the border. Suddenly, random and intense shooting broke out and people began to fall in front of me, including a friend,” Bassel said.
“As I went to help him, I was shot.”
The bullet struck his right leg, shattering and leaving shrapnel lodged under the skin. After the operation he now has metal rods sticking out of his leg.
“I went to see and show solidarity. I didn’t expect to be shot,” said the teenager, who was wounded east of Gaza City and insisted he was not throwing stones.
The European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation into the violence but Israel has rejected any such inquiry.
The army said it carefully targeted primary instigators and claimed that more than half of those killed were members of radical groups.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, said five of the dead were members of its armed wing.
Farther down the hall, Ali Zeer, 15, slept as blood slowly dripped through a tube connected to his body near the bullet wound in his chest.
His mother, 39, said all nine of her children took part in the main protest – attended by tens of thousands – but Ali chose to go closer to the fence than the rest.
“This was a peaceful protest. He didn’t throw any stones,” she said.
Israel has for a decade imposed a blockade on Gaza that it says aims to isolate Hamas but which critics say amounts to collective punishment for the territory’s two million residents.