10th June 2013 | International Action for Palestine, Nicholas Lillard | Khuza’a, Occupied Palestine
A twenty-one year old named Amer Abu
Hadayed was shot while working today in Gaza Strip’s buffer zone. His
routine of extracting stones used for building by hand was disrupted
when multiple shots were directed at him from one of four Israeli
vehicles located on the other side of the apartheid fence.
Amer was not a threat to the army, nor
was he threatening the safety of any Israeli. He is a civilian that was
doing his job along with three coworkers in a field east of Rafah, near
the Sufa landfill.
Myself and another International activist
heard the gunfire from a distance while accompanying other harvesters
north of the area where the aggression ensued.
Abu Hadayed gave us an account of the
event while in a frail condition at the European hospital’s ICU unit.
The soldier that fired upon him stepped out from one of three jeeps that
regularly patrol the border which is in coordination with an armored
hummer that has a large, remote controlled gun mounted on top of it.
This sort of weaponry is supposedly for the security of the rest of the
patrol.
Amer Abu Hadayed in the hospital (Photo by Nicholas Lillard)
This attack of a young man proceeds a
violation that incidentally was inflicted upon another twenty-one year
old named Ahmad Hamdan eight days ago. Ahmad was injured by a bullet on the second of June, the impact caused a fracturing of his right femur.
In Amer’s case he did not receive any
bone fracturing and based upon the placement of the wound such an injury
would be a minor concern compared to the alternatives. The bullet
entered the left side of his upper chest, barely missing his lung. The
path of the projectile also missed hitting the auxiliary artery that is
mere inches from the lung, this location also holds an extensive amount
of nerves which were apparently missed as well. Amer moved his arm
around to show that he continues to have at least partial range of
motion. He will remain in the ICU for another day so that any potential
complications can be monitored and dealt with immediately. The nurses
said that his bleeding is minimal and that they’re mostly watching his
recovery to make sure no hemorrhaging is going to take place.
This incident is nothing short of a crime
that was orchestrated by the Israeli army to further oppress the
Palestinian people. It is a clear violation of Amer Abu Hadayed’s human
rights and yet another example of the continued ethnic cleansing the
Zionist regime perpetrates on a regular basis.
