The Story of Gaza medics, who were deliberately shot by Israeli snipers

 

Loubani, in blue scrubs, poses for a photograph with members of his medical team on 11 May. Mousa Abu Hassanein, second from right, was killed on 14 May. (courtesy Tarek Loubani)

On 14 May, as Israeli forces began to shoot into the crowds, the number of Palestinians wounded in their limbs climbed. Loubani said that his paramedic team “ran out of our supply of tourniquets really early in the morning. All we had left were eight of them.” 

After he retrieved more tourniquets and returned to distribute them to paramedics, he said there was a lull around him: “No burning tires, no smoke, no tear gas, nobody messing around in front of the buffer zone. Just a clearly marked medical team well away from everybody else.” 

“And unfortunately that’s when I got shot.” An Israeli sniper shot him with a bullet that penetrated both legs, as he stood near Gaza’s eastern perimeter during the Great March of Return protests. 

He was one of 18 paramedics who were shot and injured on that day alone, according to reports. One of them, Mousa Jaber Abu Hassanein, was killed. Abu Hassanein and Loubani were part of the same medical team working in the field. According to Loubani, four members of his team, including himself and Abu Hassanein, were shot that day – mostly in the lower limbs.

Loubani was wearing hospital scrubs and Abu Hassanein and the others were wearing orange vests, clearly identifying them as a medics. They were working as part of a team stationed in an area about 25 meters from the perimeter fence, Loubani said. “We huddled there because we knew we would otherwise get in the crossfire” of the Israeli snipers, he added. But he was shot. Loubani said that it was “very hard to believe that the sniper didn’t know who he was targeting.” 

Low medical supplies Loubani has been working with Gaza-based physicians and designers to mitigate the overwhelming lack of basic medical supplies and electricity to operate hospitals and treat patients, as Israel and Egypt continue the 11-year blockade. 

He was in Gaza to join medical teams and test tourniquets that he helped design using open-source technology and 3D printers. 

Gaza’s health ministry reported that 62 Palestinians had been killed and almost 3,200 injured by Israeli forces in the territory on 14 May, as Israeli forces opened fire on tens of thousands of Palestinians during the Great March of Return. 

As of 15 May, more than 100 Palestinians, including 12 children, two journalists and paramedic Abu Hassanein had been killed during the protests, which have been held near Gaza’s eastern boundary since 30 March. Abu Hassanein had rescued Loubani and treated his bullet wound. 

About an hour later, the Israeli army shot Abu Hassanein in the chest while he tried to attend to a wounded protester. Loubani believes that if he hadn’t been incapacitated by that sniper’s bullet to his own legs, he could have treated his friend and possibly saved his life. 

“When he went down, all the paramedics hit the deck. And they were able to get to cover behind a rock but they couldn’t get him to cover until things calmed down, which took about 20 minutes” – which was too late, Loubani explained. 

“He had kids. He was a good paramedic. He was a solid rescuer,” Loubani said. Abu Hassanein died of a treatable condition – tension pneumothorax, a collapsed lung due to the injury, Loubani explained. “I could have fixed it with a Bic pen.”

More than 12,600 Palestinians have been injured during the seven weeks of protests, most of them requiring hospitalization.

More than 200 paramedics and health workers have been injured while providing treatment to wounded people during the mass demonstrations, reports the United Nations. Thirty-two ambulances were also damaged.

One soldier has been reported lightly wounded – the only Israeli casualty during the protests

Source: The Electronic Intefada