Doctors in the Gaza Strip were forced to amputate the legs of two Palestinians who were wounded in border clashes with IDF forces, after Israel refused to allow their transfer to a West Bank hospital, two left-wing NGOs said.

The Adalah and Al Mezan organizations said Yousef Karnaz, 20, and Mohammad Al-Ajouri, 17, were both shot and wounded when tens of thousands of Gazans converged near the border with Israel on March 30 for the first in a series of planned protests that led to bloody confrontations.

The organizations said Gaza doctors did not have the proper equipment to treat the two. The groups filed a petition in Israel’s top court on Sunday demanding that authorities allow them to exit the Strip to get urgent treatment in a better-equipped hospital in Ramallah to save their legs.

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It came after an earlier request to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli body responsible for coordination with Palestinians, was ignored, the groups said in a statement.

But on Monday the Supreme Court gave the state three days to respond, forcing Gazan doctors to amputate one of each of the men’s legs, the statement added.

The state responded that while the men fulfilled the medical criteria required to get approval, they were denied entry because their injuries “stemmed directly from their participation in the riots.”

The Supreme Court was said scheduled to discuss the case again on Thursday, since the second leg of one of the men is still in danger of amputation.

“The amputation of the two young men’s legs could have been prevented if the state had complied with its obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law,” said attorney Sawsan Zaher of Adalah in the statement. “The state’s response indicates that Israel’s policy is to prevent those in danger of losing organs from leaving Gaza for medical treatment, in order to punish them for participating in a non-violent protest.”

Israel’s policy “may constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and/or torture under the UN Convention Against Torture,” the two groups claimed.

Israeli forces have killed 32 Palestinians and wounded thousands since March 30, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry figures, in mass protests that the Palestinians dub the “March of the Return.” Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that several of those killed were its members.

Israel says it opens fire when necessary to stop damage to the border fence, infiltrations and attempted attacks. It alleges that Hamas, whose leaders have said the demonstrations are ultimately aimed at erasing the border and liberating Palestine, is seeking to use the protests as cover to carry out violence.

Last Friday, during the second week of a series of events set to culminate on May 15, about 20,000 Palestinians demonstrated along the Gaza border in what Israel has described as a riot orchestrated by Hamas, and what Palestinians say was supposed to be a peaceful protest.

Israel’s army spokesman Ronen Manelis specified that evening that eight explosive devices and numerous petrol bombs were thrown during the day, and that the IDF faced several attempts “to cut through the fence…. There were attempts to carry out acts of terrorism … using the smoke [from burning tires] for cover,” Manelis said. </s> Doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip amputated the legs of two Palestinian youths Wednesday after the IDF had denied a request to transfer them to the West Bank for further treatment, according to a press release by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.



Yousef Karnaz, 20, and Mohammad Al-'Ajouri, 17, were shot and wounded by the Israeli military during the recent "Great March of Return" protests in the Gaza Strip on March 30. </s> • act to allow seriously wounded Gaza residents access to emergency medical care in Israel or passage to the West Bank/East Jerusalem;
• to establish a special emergency procedure designed to facilitate immediate entry for wounded Gazans to access urgent medical care in Israel, the occupied West Bank, or beyond.

Two young men are in danger of losing their legs if they remain in Gaza hospital; Al Mezan, Adalah petition Israeli Supreme Court after Israeli military took four days to reject transfer requestIsrael is refusing to let two young Palestinian men-who were seriously wounded by Israeli military gunfire as unarmed protesters during demonstrations in Gaza-travel to the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank for urgent medical care.Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court yesterday, 8 April 2018, demanding Israel let the two seriously wounded young men leave the Gaza Strip.The two men -- Yousef Karnaz, aged 20, and Mohammad Al-'Ajouri, aged 17, both from Gaza-were wounded when Israeli troops fired on them during the 30 March 2018 Land Day protests.Since Shifa hospital does not have the required medical tools to save their legs, it referred both men to Al Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah on 1 April 2018 and a request to exit Gaza and transfer to Ramallah was submitted to the Israeli military's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) that same day.However, COGAT did not respond and Adalah and Al Mezan sent an urgent letter on 4 April requesting authorization for their immediate passage from Gaza to Ramallah. On 5 April, Adalah was informed that COGAT refused the patients' requests.Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher wrote in the Supreme Court petition that "there is no substantive justification for rejecting the request of the two petitioners, who are both confined to the ICU in critical condition. The rejection of their request is an expression of indifference to the amputation of their legs."Continued Israeli refusal to allow Karnaz and Al-'Ajouri access to urgent medical care constitutes a violation of their right to life and health and is a violation of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and Israeli constitutional law anchored in Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.Hospitals in Gaza are struggling to deal with upwards of 1,990 wounded by Israeli snipers, live ammunition, tear gas from drones, among other kinds of excessive force. Doctors report they are running out of medicine and supplies to treat patients.On 1 April 2018, Adalah and Al Mezan sent an urgent letter to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, Chief Military Advocate General (MAG) Sharon Afek, and COGAT Commander Major General Yoav Mordechai, demanding that they:The letter was written in response to three cases of seriously wounded Gazans seeking medical care outside of Gaza who were denied entry by COGAT."The Israeli authorities must not use the guise of security to delay the medical transfer of persons who have been incapacitated due to serious injury and who do not pose a security threat. The injured must be given a chance to live. Without appropriate care available in Gaza, due largely to the illegal closure that maintains the movement restrictions on all patients, this is ultimately an issue of the fundamental right to life," said Issam Younis, Director of Al Mezan. "Incontrovertibly, all of Gaza's patients hold the basic human right of access to medical care."The human rights organizations' stressed in the letter that, in urgent circumstances, it is not feasible to operate according to Israel's standard procedures for patients,and that immediate exit from Gaza must be permitted in order for wounded to receive medical care.critically concerning the rights to life and health, and under international humanitarian law. Preventing the entry for medical care of individuals wounded by Israeli military gunfire is a violation of Israel's obligations as an occupying power - and a violation of both international and Israeli law," Attorney Zaher wrote in the letter. Read the Al Mezan-Adalah petition [Hebrew] </s> Two Palestinian demonstrators had to have their legs amputated because Israel didn't let them enter the West Bank after the protests that erupted at the Gaza border.

This goes to show just how unjust the Israeli government is toward the Palestinian population living under military occupation.

The case, which is now being discussed by the High Court of Justice because one of the amputees may need another amputation, wouldn’t have come to this if the two men had been allowed to enter in order to obtain proper treatment in Ramallah.

But when a petition was filed by the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights on behalf of the two men on Sunday requesting an urgent hearing, the court waited, giving the government three days to answer. Due to the delay and the initial refusal, the men lost one of their legs, Haaretz reports.

The men were injured after being shot in the legs during the demonstrations. And it was precisely because of their involvement in the protest that the Israeli authorities used as a reason to reject their request. Still, they recognized that the men did, indeed, meet the requirements for getting the permission.

If the government had simply kept its word and followed their own protocol, the men could have had their legs saved.

According to Adalah Legal Center attorney Sawsan Zahar, the amputations “could have been prevented if the state had fulfilled its obligation under the humanitarian international law.” Unfortunately, Zahar added, the Israeli government cares little for international law. Instead, they found a way of punishing the Palestinians for their disagreement by not letting them get the medical attention they needed.

The Israeli authorities have been under fire by news organizations after Palestinians claimed that over two dozen protesters were killed by IDF soldiers. And yet, none of this has been addressed by President Donald Trump, whose apparent loyalty to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes him ignore human rights abuses committed by the Israeli government.

What will it take for the U.S. to condemn the Israeli government's disturbing actions? </s> GAZA (Reuters) - A Gaza cyclist’s dream of waving the Palestinian flag at the Asian Games has been shattered by an Israeli bullet that caused him to lose his leg after he joined a Gaza border protest.

Palestinian cyclist Alaa Al-Daly, 21, who lost his leg by a bullet fired by Israeli troops, leaves a hospital in Gaza City, April 18, 2018. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Alaa Al-Daly, 21, had his right leg amputated after he attended the first day of what has been called “The Great March of Return,” a six-week demonstration at the frontier fence between the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip and Israel.

Daly said that he and three friends cycled towards a border protest area on March 30, then walked to what they expected to be a non-violent demonstration. “I only went because it was a peaceful rally, I did not expect any harm to come to me.”

Daly said he was 150-200 meters (500-660 feet) from the fence, and not involved in any belligerent action against Israeli troops, when he was struck by gunfire.

He said his family asked that he be evacuated from Gaza to receive better treatment in the West Bank or in Israel, but Palestinian authorities told him that Israeli officials refused to let him exit Gaza.

The Israeli military said that senior commanders had ruled that apart from “exceptional humanitarian cases,” medical treatment would not be given to Palestinians who participated in the border protests.

“It was decided that any request for medical treatment by a terrorist or a rioter who took part in violent events would be denied,” an army statement said. “Foreign residents have no vested right to enter Israeli territory, including Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.”

Thirty-one Palestinians have been killed in the extended protest along the fenced 65-km (40-mile) Gaza-Israel frontier, pressing for a right of return for Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel. No Israeli casualties have been reported.

Gaza medical officials said at least 16 Palestinians were killed on March 30, the day that Daly was hit, and that 17 wounded people needed amputations.

Israel, which has drawn criticism from human rights groups for using live fire against the protesters, has accused the Islamist faction Hamas that rules Gaza of organising what it describes as “riots”. Hamas has denied this.

Israel says most of those killed were militants trying to attack troops or to breach the border fence, and that its troops have responded with riot dispersal means and live fire “in accordance with the rules of engagement.”

Israel has long dismissed any right of return for refugees, fearing that an influx of Palestinians would wipe out its Jewish majority. It argues that refugees should resettle in a future state that the Palestinians seek in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza. Peace talks to that end collapsed in 2014.

Daly, who trained for more than six hours a day for months to compete at the Asian Games in Indonesia, now accepts that his “dream of waving the flag of Palestine in Jakarta” is over.

He is learning to walk with the help of crutches, and intends to compete in the future as an amputee. </s> When Palestinian Mohammed al-Mughari was shot by an Israeli sniper on the Gaza border, it left a hole in his leg so big he says he could fit a finger into it.

Over a month into mass protests, more than 40 Palestinians have been killed and at least 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire during the "Great March of Return", a major protest movement along the border between Gaza and Israel.

Doctors are troubled by the high number of disabling wounds, especially to the legs and knees, with Israel facing questions over both its disproportionate use of force and the types of ammunition it is using against demonstrators.

Three weeks after being shot, 28-year-old Mughari's leg is propped up and wrapped in plaster, but he's not in the clear yet. He knows there is still a possibility it might need to be amputated.

The bullet destroyed "30 centimetres of bone in the leg", he told AFP from his hospital bed in Gaza City.

Since March 30, thousands of Palestinians have gathered every Friday at points along the border separating the besieged Gaza Strip and Israel.

The marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948.

While most of the crowd stands a few hundred metres (yards) from the border fence, smaller numbers have pushed closer to burn tyres and throw stones.

Mughari declined to say whether he threw stones, but he thinks it may be years before he can return to his restaurant job.

"I was planning to get married soon. I'm not thinking about it anymore," he said.

The Israeli army says it fires live rounds only as a "last resort" to protect soldiers and the fence.

It has accused Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas of exploiting the demonstrations and using the protesters as human shields.

Since the protests began, Israeli troops have shot more than 1,500 people. The vast majority are young men, and most of the wounded were hit in the legs, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Among those killed there have been two journalists and several teenagers.

The asymmetry of force has brought criticism of Israel's policies.

No Israelis have been injured since the protests began.

The European Union and others have called for an investigation into Israel's response, but the Jewish state has rejected the idea.

The United States, Israel's strongest backer, has blocked moves for a probe at the United Nations.

"What is unusual is the lesions and the fact that the wounds are very wide, and the bones can be in many fragments," Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission (MSF) in the Palestinian territories, told AFP.

The charity has given nearly 600 people post-operative care since March 30.

Abdel Latif el-Hajj, director general of hospitals in Gaza, accused Israel of using types of ammunition aimed at permanently disfiguring their targets.

He told AFP the army was using "expanding bullets" that separate inside the body, "breaking the bones and blood vessels, causing severe rupturing of the tissue".

Amnesty International on Friday said some of the wounds appear consistent with bullets that expand inside the body.

Such ammunition is considered illegal in international warfare.

AFP could not independently confirm the claim.

"The nature of these injuries shows that Israeli soldiers are using high-velocity military weapons designed to cause maximum harm to Palestinian protesters that do not pose imminent threat to them," an Amnesty statement said.

It accused Israel of "deliberate attempts to kill and maim" protesters.

In a statement the Israeli army said it was only using "standard weapons and ammunition that are lawful under international law", and accused Gaza's health ministry of regularly spreading false information.

Gaza's severely limited medical facilities have been stretched thin by the number of injuries.

Hajj estimates they have only a few weeks of saline solution and antibiotics left.

They also have only around 50 orthopaedic devices, used to support damaged bones or replace destroyed ones.

"I suspect they will be gone in a week," he said.

Ingres from MSF thinks hundreds of people will need costly treatment for months, if not years, with the risk of infection and further amputations if quality treatment is not given.

"The impact will be long term -- not only on the individuals but on the health system, on their families, on the society in total." </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Raed Jadallah belonged to an exclusive club — a small band of surfers who escaped the claustrophobia of blockaded Gaza by riding the waves of the Mediterranean. Now he's immobile, a metal fixation device clamped to his left leg after an Israeli bullet fractured his femur in two places.

The 25-year-old plasterer from a seaside refugee camp said he doesn't know when he'll be able to walk again, let alone surf.

"Sea and surfing are everything to me," he said on Wednesday, a day after being discharged from the hospital, his lower body covered by a blanket as he rested on a sofa at his home.

Jadallah is among 1,297 Palestinians shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers, including snipers, during the past two weeks of mass protests on the Gaza-Israel border, according to a computerized count by 5he Gaza Health Ministry. An additional 1,554 Gaza residents have been treated for tear gas inhalation or injuries by rubber-coated steel pellets.

An AP look at Gaza's health system found crowded hospital rooms lacking basic supplies, detailed electronic records of gunshot victims and dozens of people still suffering from serious wounds. Some acknowledged approaching Israel's border fence during the protests and throwing stones, though they say they were otherwise unarmed. The surge of patients has severely taxed Gaza's clinics and hospitals.

In addition, 33 Palestinians have been killed during this period, including 26 in border demonstrations. The latest casualties came on Thursday, when Israel said it bombed Hamas militant targets in the Gaza Strip, killing one Palestinian and wounding another.

The Israeli military has disputed the Gaza count of wounded, saying that at most dozens were struck by Israeli fire, but it has not offered supporting evidence.

In a response Thursday, the military did not refer to its previous challenge of the figures of wounded Palestinians. It said that it "contends with terrorist organizations that are trying to turn the area between Israel and the Gaza Strip into a combat zone, above and below ground," near Israeli communities.

The casualty figures are at the heart of an intensifying debate over the military's open-fire orders, branded as unlawful by rights groups because soldiers are permitted to use potentially lethal force against unarmed Palestinians approaching the border fence.

Israel has accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of using the protests as a cover for carrying out attacks, including a possible mass breach of the border fence, and says it has a right to defend its sovereign border. It said Thursday that "the tools used by the Israeli military include warnings, riot control measures, and as a last resort, live fire in a precise and measured manner."

The protests have been organized by Hamas, but have also been fueled by widespread despair among the territory's 2 million people. Gaza has endured more than a decade of border closures, imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group seized the territory in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections.

More bloodshed on the border is likely, with organizers calling for protests to continue until mid-May and Israel saying it won't change its rules of engagement.

Already, the recent surge of patients with gunshot wounds has severely taxed Gaza's clinics and hospitals.

Gaza's health system has been buckling under years of shortages of essential medicines and equipment caused by the blockade and Hamas' power struggle with the rival Palestinian Authority, doctors say. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority accuses Hamas of selling medicines it sends, while Hamas accuses it of delaying medicine shipments.

The violence comes at a time when 40 percent of basic medicines are no longer in stock in Gaza hospitals, according to the World Health Organization. Equipment is also in short supply. At Gaza's main hospital, Shifa, half of 200 available fixators had been used up for bones broken by bullets, officials said.

Doctors carefully manage scarce resources, said Ayman Sahbani, the spokesman and emergency room director at the Shifa Hospital. Those with relatively simple soft-tissue gunshot wounds are treated and sent home the same day to make room for the most serious cases and new arrivals, he said.

Earlier this week, 64 patients with complications from gunshot wounds — mainly sustained in large protests on two consecutive Fridays — were still hospitalized, filling up orthopedic and surgery wards.

A majority suffered either open, compound or multiple fractures, or damage to blood vessels, said Sahbani, adding that there is concern about permanent disability in some cases.

"A noticeable number of the gunshot injuries comprise an exit point larger than the entry point," he added. The Israeli military did not respond to questions about the type of ammunition used by its snipers, but such wounds could be consistent with rifle fire.

The European Hospital in southern Gaza received 100 people with gunshot wounds last Friday, including 78 who remained hospitalized this week, said spokesman Yehiyeh Nawajha. Among the wounded are four women, he said.

Jadallah, the surfer, was among those shot last Friday. He said he had been throwing stones about 15 meters (yards) from the fence and was just leaving when he was shot.

He said he had been drawn to the protests by the organizers' slogan of a "Great March of Return" to destroyed Palestinian communities in what is now Israel. Hamas leaders have sent mixed signals about a possible border breach, which Israel says it will prevent at all costs.

Two-thirds of Gaza residents, including Jadallah, are descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes in the 1948 war over Israel's creation.

"We want to return to our land," Jadallah said.

At Shifa, 17-year-old Mohannad Hamouda was in agony from a gunshot wound to the back.

He was hit March 30 while running from tear gas and gunfire toward protesters who had approached the fence. With his parents at his bedside, he would not say whether he was throwing rocks or had gotten close to the frontier.

Hamouda had joined the protests over the objections of his parents. "I was bored, life is grinding here," he said.

Doctors said they were concerned about bullet fragments near his spine and feared surgery to remove them could cause permanent paralysis.

The Gaza Health Ministry runs a data collection system known as "e-hospital."

Detailed injury reports are entered from field hospitals, clinics and Gaza's main hospitals, with patients identified by name, ID number and type of injury. The system eventually detects and removes any duplicates that might occur if a patient is transferred from one hospital to another, said ministry official Hani al-Wehidi.

For example, 82 people were initially admitted to a north Gaza hospital, but four names were later removed to avoid double counting, he said.

He said the count is transparent and reliable. "Anyone can come and see our work," he said.

The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, has sent more supplies to Gaza hospitals, including 27 essential drugs and medical supplies, including saline and glucose, critical for treating serious injuries.

An Israeli group, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, is sending eight Arab doctors from Israel to Gaza in anticipation of more injuries on Friday. It also will deliver insulin syringes collected by Israeli volunteers in a Facebook campaign.

The group called the Palestinian health care system "one of the major victims" of Israel's blockade.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday attended the funeral of a young Palestinian woman who was shot dead by Israeli forces a day earlier while working as a volunteer medic during protests near the Gaza-Israel boundary fence, as documented by an efe-epa journalist.

The body of Razan al-Najjar, age 21, was carried draped in the Palestinian flag and her blood-stained medical vest.

According to the human rights group Al Mezan, eyewitnesses said the young medic was shot in the back while treating injured demonstrators east of Khan Younis.

"Eyewitnesses reported that the martyr al-Najjar was about 100 meters to the west of the eastern fence at the time she was targeted, that she was helping to evacuate the wounded and provide medical assistance to them and that she was wearing a jacket with a badge showing the nature of her work as a medic," Al Mezan said in a statement Friday on its official website.

For its part, the Israeli army said Friday that "rioters are burning tires adjacent to the security fence and attempting to damage security infrastructure," and that its forces were "responding with riot dispersal means and are operating in accordance with the rules of engagement."

Around 100 Palestinians were wounded during the 10th consecutive Friday of demonstrations in the Gaza Strip, 40 of them by gunfire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Since the Great March of Return protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 123 Palestinians and wounded more than 13,000, according to Red Cross figures.

According to protest organizers, the mass demonstrations are calling for Palestinians' right to return to their homeland inside Israel and an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has lasted over a decade. </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Raed Jadallah belonged to an exclusive club — a small band of surfers who escaped the claustrophobia of blockaded Gaza by riding the waves of the Mediterranean. Now he’s immobile, a metal fixation device clamped to his left leg after an Israeli bullet fractured his femur in two places.

The 25-year-old plasterer from a seaside refugee camp said he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to walk again, let alone surf.

“Sea and surfing are everything to me,” he said on Wednesday, a day after being discharged from the hospital, his lower body covered by a blanket as he rested on a sofa at his home.

Jadallah is among 1,297 Palestinians shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers, including snipers, during the past two weeks of mass protests on the Gaza-Israel border, according to a computerized count by the Gaza Health Ministry. An additional 1,554 Gaza residents have been treated for tear gas inhalation or injuries by rubber-coated steel pellets.

An Associated Press look at Gaza’s health system found crowded hospital rooms lacking basic supplies, detailed electronic records of gunshot victims and dozens of people still suffering from serious wounds. Some acknowledged approaching Israel’s border fence during the protests and throwing stones, though they say they were otherwise unarmed. The surge of patients has severely taxed Gaza’s clinics and hospitals.

In addition, 33 Palestinians have been killed during this period, including 26 in border demonstrations. The latest casualties came on Thursday, when Israel said it bombed Hamas militant targets in the Gaza Strip, killing one Palestinian and wounding another.

The Israeli military has disputed the Gaza count of wounded, saying that at most dozens were struck by Israeli fire, but it has not offered supporting evidence.

Fares Akram is an Associated Press writer.
Adalah and Al Mezan say Gazan doctors had to amputate the legs of two young protestors wounded by Israeli fire after Israel refused permission for their transfer to Ramallah in the West Bank for treatment. Israel says the men were refused transfers because they were involved in violence.