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Palestinian boy loses eye after Israel soldiers shoot him

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy lost his eye after being shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet fired by Israeli occupation forces on Friday

April 12, 2021 at 4:10 pm

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy lost his eye after being shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet fired by Israeli occupation forces on Friday in the neighbourhood of Bab Al-Zawiya in Hebron.

According to Wafa news agency, Izz Al-Din Nadal was directly shot in the right eye and taken to a hospital in Hebron for immediate treatment before being transferred to St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital for surgery.

Nadal’s father told local media that Izz Al-Din Nadal was in a shop in the Andalusia Market with his cousin when they saw a group of uniformed Israeli soldiers shooting at young men who were reportedly throwing stones.

 “We didn’t get involved, we were in the store and suddenly one of the soldiers shot at us,” Izz Al-Din’s cousin told Haaretz.

READ: 8-year-old Palestinian shot by Israel soldier losses left eye

“It was clear that he aimed at us and Izz Al-Din was hit in the eye.”

The Israeli military accused the boy of being “in the area of a violent riot” when they responded with sponge-tipped bullets.

The systematic ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children has been widely documented in recent years, with Amnesty International finding that Israeli forces had “tortured and otherwise ill-treated Palestinian detainees, including children, particularly during arrest and interrogation,” with methods including “beating with batons, slapping, throttling, prolonged shackling, stress positions, sleep deprivation and threats.”

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, and commits various abuses against Palestinian civilians, human rights groups say.