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> Palestinian cyclist Alaa Al-Daly is seen inside the kitchen of his house in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Daly said he was 500-660 feet from the fence, and not involved in any belligerent action against Israeli troops, when he was struck by gunfire. ... </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> 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> 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> 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> Palestinian journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein today died of his wounds after being shot by Israeli snipers while covering mass protests at the Gaza Border.

Abu Hussein was shot in the abdomen on April 13.

In spite of the severity of his situation, Israel had at first denied Abu Hussein permission to be transported to the occupied West Bank for treatment.

He was finally moved to the Ramallah Governmental Hospital, “after strenuous efforts” on part of Palestinian officials and after he was denied treatment in Israel, but it was too late.

Photos and video from the scene show that he was far from the border and wearing a blue jacket and helmet marked “TV” when he was shot.

He is the second journalist killed by Israeli snipers while covering the protests at the Gaza border, after Yasser Murtaja, who was shot on April 6 and succumbed to his wounds the following day. </s> Ahmad Abu Hussein, 25, is the second journalist to have died in the protests, which began last month at the Israel-Gaza border. He was shot in the stomach on April 13, the ministry said.

Hussein, who worked for local Gaza news agencies, was transferred to Ramallah for treatment two days after being shot, and was later sent to a hospital in Ramat Gan in Israel, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Video shows Hussein wearing his press vest and helmet when he was hit by the Israeli sniper.

Journalist Yaser Murtaja was also shot dead earlier this month in the protests while wearing his press vest, in an event that drew international condemnation.

Palestinian protesters try to pull down part of the Gaza-Israel fence on April 22. Israeli officials claimed Murtaja was a paid member of Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, but offered no evidence to support their allegations. The Israeli military has denied it targets journalists and said earlier it was looking into the circumstances surrounding Murtaja's shooting. The protests are part of the Palestinian "March of Return," scheduled to run through mid-May. Palestinians say they want to highlight their right to return to places from which their ancestors either fled or were expelled seven decades ago, when the state of Israel was created. Israel says the demonstrators are being exploited by Hamas. Forty-two Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the protests began last month, according to a CNN count. No Israeli soldiers have been killed or injured. </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.
Reports emerge Palestinian cyclist Alaa Al-Daly, 21, had his leg amputated after being shot by an Israeli sniper on the first day of the protests and as a result can no longer compete in the upcoming Asian Games.