{"id":461,"date":"2023-08-26T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T13:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/?p=461"},"modified":"2026-03-01T08:12:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T07:12:27","slug":"israels-bullets-leave-wounds-that-wont-heal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/?p=461","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s bullets leave wounds that won\u2019t heal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abdallah al-Naami<\/a><\/span> The Electronic Intifada<\/a><\/span> 24 August 2023<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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Due to the still-spreading bacterial infection in what remains of Muhammad Hussein\u2019s leg, he has been unable to be fitted with a\u00a0prosthesis.<\/p>\n

Abdallah al-Naami<\/span> The Electronic Intifada<\/span><\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over five years have passed since an Israeli sniper shot Muhammad Hussein in the\u00a0knee.<\/p>\n

On 11 May 2018, Hussein was participating in the Great March of Return in Rafah, in the southern Gaza\u00a0Strip.<\/p>\n

Thousands of Palestinians had been gathering every Friday at the boundary with Israel since March 2018. The protesters sought to claim their right to return to their land, which was taken by force by the Israeli occupation in the 1948\u00a0Nakba.<\/p>\n

Hussein was filming the march as part of a university\u00a0project.<\/p>\n

Then, an Israeli sniper shot a young man in front of\u00a0Hussein.<\/p>\n

Hussein was in shock. A few seconds later, he was also\u00a0shot.<\/p>\n

He fell to the ground, in pain. The wound started bleeding profusely, and Hussein passed out as the paramedics were treating him. He was taken directly to the emergency room at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, where he underwent an eight-hour\u00a0operation.<\/p>\n

After the surgery, Hussein was optimistic but still in\u00a0pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I had recovered from the injury and that I would be able to walk again soon,\u201d Hussein\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

After two weeks in the hospital, the doctors decided to amputate Hussein\u2019s leg from above the knee, as they discovered inflammation and gangrene in the area of the\u00a0injury.<\/p>\n

Initially, Hussein and his family were so shocked that they refused the\u00a0operation.<\/p>\n

But it was the only\u00a0option.<\/p>\n

The day after the amputation was Hussein\u2019s 20th\u00a0birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t forget how I felt that day. I was supposed to be spending a happy day with my friends and family,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, the Israeli occupation turned it into a day of pain and\u00a0grief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never-ending\u00a0infections<\/h2>\n

The UN<\/span> monitoring group OCHA<\/span> estimates that over 35,000<\/a> were injured during the protests, from March 2018 to November 2019. Among those injured, nearly 8,000 were shot with live\u00a0ammunition.<\/p>\n

M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF<\/span>) described<\/a> those gunshot injuries as \u201cdevastating\u201d and \u201cof an unusual severity,\u201d noting that doctors were observing \u201can extreme level of destruction to bones and soft tissue, and large exit wounds that can be the size of a\u00a0fist.\u201d<\/p>\n

About two weeks after the amputation, Hussein started to experience severe pain in the area of his injury. At the hospital, the doctors discovered a bacterial infection and performed an emergency operation to control\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

Dr. Fadel Naim, a consultant orthopedist in Gaza City, said that Gaza lacks the equipment needed to diagnose bacterial infections, due to the Israeli\u00a0blockade.<\/p>\n

Such laboratory equipment can detect and determine types of bacteria so doctors can prescribe the necessary antibiotic. Without the equipment, infections only\u00a0worsen.<\/p>\n

Over a thousand<\/a> Palestinians in Gaza experienced bacterial infections in their gunshot wounds, according to MSF<\/span>, and many of these infections are resistant to common\u00a0antibiotics.<\/p>\n

According to Naim, many infections did not respond to any of the antibiotics available in the Gaza Strip, and they had to resort to amputation as a last resort to stop the spread of\u00a0infections.<\/p>\n

But, in many cases, even amputation was not\u00a0enough.<\/p>\n

Wounds that won\u2019t\u00a0heal<\/h2>\n

Over five years, Hussein has undergone three amputations, but they have all failed to stop the infection. Today, only a few centimeters of his leg remain, and the infection continues to\u00a0spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors told me that if the infection spreads to the pelvic joint, it could be life-threatening,\u201d Hussein\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

In 2019, he applied for a permit to travel for treatment in hospitals in both Jerusalem and the West Bank, but the Israeli authorities refused his\u00a0request.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter every surgery I had, I had hope that my wound would heal and my suffering with the injury would finally end,\u201d he said. \u201cI was disappointed and devastated every\u00a0time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Khamis Fojo has undergone 18 surgeries and eight amputations after an Israeli sniper shot him above the knee in July\u00a02018.<\/p>\n

Abdallah al-Naami<\/span> The Electronic Intifada<\/span><\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Khamis Fojo, 33, has experienced a similar sense of devastation and disappointment since an Israeli sniper shot him on 27 July 2018 during the Great March of\u00a0Return.<\/p>\n

He was over a kilometer from the boundary fence when he was shot above the knee. The bullet caused severe internal bleeding, and Fojo was in a coma for two weeks at the European Gaza\u00a0Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing I remember before I passed out is the sound of a bullet,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sounded like an\u00a0explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was going to\u00a0die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to the severity of his injury, doctors amputated Fojo\u2019s\u00a0leg.<\/p>\n

Six months after the amputation, he developed a fever and felt intense pain in his leg. A bacterial infection had\u00a0developed.<\/p>\n

Antibiotics were not enough to stop the infection, and surgery was the only option. Over the past five years, Fojo has undergone 18 surgeries, including eight\u00a0amputations.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all the surgeries, my injury kept getting worse and more painful,\u201d said Fojo, who lives in Rafah with his wife and four\u00a0children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still live in pain every day, especially at night,\u201d he\u00a0continued.<\/p>\n

Fojo recently stopped taking painkillers, as they are no longer\u00a0effective.<\/p>\n

The Israeli authorities refused to grant Fojo a permit to travel for treatment in the West Bank or Jerusalem. He was rejected more than 10 times for a permit to enter Egypt until finally, in 2022 and 2023, he was allowed to travel\u00a0there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Egyptian doctors were shocked to see how bad my injury was,\u201d he said. \u201cThey told me that they had never seen a case like mine before, and that the weapons that caused my injury should be internationally\u00a0banned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mental\u00a0toll<\/h2>\n

Before the injury, Fojo was an active person, but now, he experiences anxiety and is quick to anger. He rarely leaves the\u00a0house.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Hussein has endured similar bouts of depression. \u201cIt was difficult for me to accept and cope with my disability and my constantly deteriorating injury,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Yet he obtained a degree in multimedia studies from Palestine Technical College in Deir al-Balah in 2021. And, eventually, he returned to weightlifting and physical training, but these are not activities that he can do with\u00a0regularity.<\/p>\n

As his infection spreads throughout the remainder of his leg, he has to take breaks for surgeries and to\u00a0rest.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Hussein undertook the necessary steps to get fitted for a prosthetic leg from Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza. But the nerves in the injured leg still cause it to involuntarily twitch, especially during the night, which is frightening to\u00a0Hussein.<\/p>\n

Due to the bacteria spreading to the bone and the constant pain, a prosthesis was not\u00a0possible.<\/p>\n

Abdallah al-Naami is a journalist and photographer living in\u00a0Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abdallah al-Naami The Electronic Intifada 24 August 2023 Due to the still-spreading bacterial infection in what remains of Muhammad Hussein\u2019s leg, he has been unable to be fitted with a\u00a0prosthesis. Abdallah al-Naami The Electronic Intifada Over five years have passed since an Israeli sniper shot Muhammad Hussein in the\u00a0knee. On 11 May 2018, Hussein was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blocco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlus.newweapons.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}