Isrelis fire artilery shells at Gazan farmers and injure six

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Yesterday, Thursday the 27 May ’10,  three people were wounded in the Zeytoun neighborhood of Gaza City which was bombed by the Israeli Apache helicopters and six farmers from the same area were wounded by the tank artillery fire while farming near the border.

This morning (Friday 28^th) Bianca and I visited two of the wounded farmers in the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Baraqa Mihammad AL Mugrabi, age 53 and Musa Ashad Badawi, age 28 are neighbors and they went to farm yesterday at 6 o’clock in the morning. Because they have small plots of land they were quite near each other and a part of a larger group of about 30 people.

Baraga has 5 dunums of land and Musa 12, and they grow olives, apricots and other fruits as well as vegetables and some wheat.

Both of them are farmers with no other source of income and  large number of people depend on their farming income. In Musa’s case that includes over 20 members of his family including his parents and younger siblings.

Baraka supports a large family of 10 children, his parents and several older relatives.

Soon after they started farming earth-to earth missiles fired at them from 10 Israeli tanks.  ‘There were helicopters, drones, many army jeeps, 10 tanks and 10 bulldozers which later entered our land to level the mounds their artillery shells created’, said Baraka.

‘The firing was both heavy and sudden’, said Baraka, ‘about 25 artillery shells hit the area where we were and without any prior warning’.

Musa told us that they shoot at them from the guns almost daily but this was the first time they fired from the tanks.

Artillery shrapnel shattered Barak’ bone in the lower arm in several places and caused nerve damage. He also suffered spine injury in a fall following the wounding.

Musa’s thigh bone was broken, the x-ray shows a large fracture with two parts of the bone several centimeters away from each other.

When we spoke to them both Barak and Musa were in lots of pain following surgeries they had undergone yesterday and they were told that they would both have to spent at least six weeks in the hospital to ensure recovery.

Musa had no feeling in his leg and Baraka was worried that the nerve  damage would leave him permanently without use of his arm.

And of course, both of them will have to return to the place where they suffered shock and so much pain.

They have no choice, they are farmers and they have no other options. What preoccupies  both of them already is the time they will be unable to work because of their injuries and how will their families manage financially.

Musa was told that his recovery will take a whole year and Baraka’ at least six months.

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Tags: buffer zone, civilian ijuries, Gaza, injury, Israel, live ammunition, occupation, shooting civilians, siege, war crimes