Protesters in Gaza being ‘deliberately shot in the ankle’, say doctors

Medics in the Gaza Strip have reported treating an influx of protesters who appear to have been deliberately shot in the ankle in recent unrest at the volatile boundary of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

At least one person has been killed and dozens wounded since demonstrations by young men, some of them throwing stones and molotov cocktails, began in mid September.

The protests were ostensibly organised in response to an increase in visits by Jewish groups to Jerusalem’s sensitive al-Aqsa compound, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raids targeting armed Palestinian cells in the occupied West Bank, and the economic misery caused by the Israeli-Egyptian siege of Gaza, now in its 16th year.

Seven people admitted to al-Awda hospital in the northern town of Beit Lahia are still receiving treatments for bullet wounds to the ankle, a joint that Dr Jean Pierre, a medical activity manager in Gaza for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said was extremely difficult to treat.

“It’s much harder to treat than any other part of the leg, because it is a joint that bears weight. It involves a complicated graft called free flap surgery, and it doesn’t always mean the patient will be able to walk. If it fails, amputation is often necessary,” he said.

“Only two doctors in Gaza can do it, and they do not have the microscopic equipment necessary to do intricate vascular repairs.” Human rights groups say that such targeting procedures are unlawful as they allow the use of potentially lethal force with no immediate threat to soldiers’ lives.

In a statement, the IDF said: “Over the past few weeks, the Hamas terror organisation has organised violent riots along the border fence, for purposes of harming Israeli security forces …

“It should be noted that the IDF resorts to live fire only after exhausting all available options, and only as necessary to handle imminent threat.”

The latest violence echoes protests that began in 2018 and lasted nearly two years in which 227 Palestinians were killed during weekly demonstrations at the separation fences dubbed the “March of Return”.

About 60% of the thousands of injured were hit in the legs by sniper fire, according to the local health ministry – admissions that overwhelmed an already crumbling medical sector.

Since then, amputees using crutches have become a common sight on the enclave’s streets. In response, MSF funded a prosthetics clinic for the strip’s residents, and a limb reconstruction centre at al-Awda hospital.

“It is sad to say we have become experts in this work,” said Rami Abu Jasser, one of the centre’s supervisors. “But we still cannot treat more than a handful of people a day.”

One of the injured protesters, who gave his name as Khalid, had been shot through both ankles with one bullet; he was healing well, doctors said, but it would not be clear for months whether he would be able to walk again.

“I was injured five times in the March of Return,” the 26-year-old said. “In my thigh, in my hips, and I have shrapnel in my head.”

Khalid was one of several hundred young men who took part in the recent clashes at the separation fence, at the behest of a newly formed group called “Rebel Youth”.

Many people in Gaza, however, said that they believed Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has controlled the area since 2007, was ultimately responsible for stoking the violence along the periphery. The latest round of protests does not seem to have significant public support.