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Palestinian boy found with bullet in brain after Eid celebrations

August 4, 2020 at 1:37 pm

Israeli police guard Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital 08 January 2006 [AWAD AWAD/AFP via Getty Images]

A nine-year-old Palestinian boy has been found with a bullet in his brain after the Eid Al-Adha celebrations which took place over the weekend, the Times of Israel reported.

The boy, who has not been named, was taken to hospital by his parents after he complained he was extremely sleepy. Initial examinations at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem showed the boy had a tiny wound on his head and a small patch of blood in his hair.

A scan later showed a bullet had become lodged in his skull. The scan showed a bullet had entered the nine-year-old’s skull at the side, going through parts of his brain before lodging towards the back of his head.

Guy Elor, the on-call neurosurgeon at the time, later operated on the young Palestinian and was quoted by the Times of Israel as saying he was “amazed” how little damage the bullet had caused despite travelling through some “very important brain structures”.

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Adding that the whole incident was “pretty strange”, because “nobody at the hospital had a clue that he had been shot by a gun. It was a nine-year-old who was a bit sleepy.”

The parents were also reportedly unsure how the nine-year-old was injured. According to Elor, “the mother reported that he was playing with his friends and something happened, maybe something fell on him. The story really wasn’t clear, but there was no suggestion that he was shot. He had just a tiny wound on the top of his head.”

Local police are reportedly investigating the possibility the young Palestinian was hit by a falling bullet fired during Eid Al-Adha celebrations.

Despite the traumatic experience, the nine-year-old is expected to make a full recovery and as of Sunday was awake and communicating with doctors, according to the Times of Israel.

The incident comes two months after a four-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by a stray bullet fired by an unknown shooter in Jerusalem.

Rafif Mohammad Qara’een succumbed to her injuries in early June after sustaining severe brain damage after a bullet hit her in the head as her family were preparing for iftar during the holy month of Ramadan.

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