Palestinian teen loses eye from bullet fired by Israeli police

Incident is among more than 15 incidents that have reported, including one death

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy lost his eye after he was hit by a sponge-tipped bullet fired by Israeli police as he stood on the balcony of his home, reported Haaretz.

The family of the teenager, Nur Hamdan, claimed that the bullet hit him while he stood on their second-floor balcony. He suffered eye socket fractures and other facial injuries as well. The police stated that the troops came to the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Isawiyah due to a fight that broke between the neighbours.



On their arrival, Palestinians began pelting them with rocks and other items, and in response to this, they used crowd-control weapons to drive the stone-throwers away. Hamdan’s uncle, Ali Hamdan, told Haaretz that his nephew wasn’t involved with the incident at all. He was standing on the balcony with his mother and a cousin. “The children were playing on the balcony until my wife called them to come inside because of the police,” he said.  “He was hit just as he stood up to go in.”

Hamdan was taken first to a local clinic, then to Hadassah University Hospital on Mt Scopus, and finally to Hadassah’s Ein Karem campus. Approximately three years ago, the police began to use a kind of bullet that is reportedly “heavier, harder, and more lethal” than the usual blue one and has caused dozens of serious injuries and one death, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has said.

“This is a dangerous weapon that has already taken the life of one teen and caused head injuries to dozens of people, including children,” said attorney Nisreen Alyan of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. “Some lost their sight.”

“It’s unacceptable that people who are on their balconies or near a window shouldn’t be safe, and should be injured by sponge-tipped bullets fired contrary to police regulations,” Alyan added. “This isn’t the first time a serious incident like this has happened in Isawiyah, and it clarifies the need for oversight of the police by the attorney general, and also the need to stop using the black sponge-tipped bullets.”



According to police regulations, bullets of this kind should never be fired at children, and if aimed at adults, should only be targeted to their legs. In 2014, teenager Mohammed Sunuqrut was killed by a sponge-tipped bullet, also in the neighbourhood of Isawiyah.

This incident is among more than 15 incidents that have reported people losing an eye in a similar shooting scene involving the Israeli forces, including that of a six-year-old boy.