Israeli snipers target Gaza protesters in their eyes
Tareq Hajjaj & Pam Bailey The New Arab 20/12/19
Muath Amarneh was blinded in his left eye after he was hit by a rubber bullet while covering a protest in the West Bank. . . Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports that 50 protesters have been shot in the eye since the
demonstrations began March 30, 2018 – leaving them permanently blind. ‘. . . most were
targeted directly with what is commonly called a ‘rubber bullet’ giving the impression they
are somehow benign,’ says Ashraf Alqedra, MD, a treating physician at Gaza City’s al-Shifa
Hospital and spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. ‘But there is still steel at the core, and
although these bullets don’t usually kill, they do grave damage. It is impossible to save an eye
hit directly by a rubber-coated steel bullet.’
Mai Abu Rwedah: the most recent victim — Mai Abu Rwedah, 20, grew up in north Gaza’s
al-Bureij Refugee Camp in a family of nine children supported by a father who works as a
janitor for a UN school. She just graduated from university, hoping to start her professional
life as a medical secretary and contribute her income . . . Earlier this month, Mai stood
with a few friends about 100 metres from the fence that marks the border between Gaza and
Israel. She glimpsed an Israeli soldier waving and pointing his finger to his eye. . .
‘Then, suddenly, he raised his gun and pointed it at me. I was about to flee but he was too fast.
He shot me in my eye.’ The bullet damaged her jaw as well. Doctors had to extract her right
eye, since it was destroyed…