aiming for the artery

In Gaza

During today’s demonstration at Nahal Oz, eastern Gaza against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone”, IOF soldiers shot one unarmed Palestinian demonstrater, Ahmed Deeb, 21. The bullet severed his femural artery, causing sudden and copious bleeding. Dr. Abdullah el Attar at Shifa hospital confirmed that Ahmed’s injury is serious and that he has lost a lot of blood. Dr. Attar says the bullet used on Ahmed was a “dum dum”, an exploding bullet which, on impact, breaks into many pieces.

At the time of visiting Shifa hospital, Ahmed had been rushed to surgery. He is the 9th unarmed protester to be shot by the IOF in less than 1 month, including the three shot last week, one of which was a female international solidarity acitivist from Malta, another of which was a visibly unarmed Palestinian young woman.

*Ahmed Deeb being carried off after he is shot in the femural artery with an exploding bullet by an Israeli soldier. Palestinian medics say that of leg shooting injuries they have seen, IOF soldiers regularly aim for the artery. If not treated immediately, an artery wound can lead to death due to the heavy bleeding.