In an unusual joint Israeli-Palestinian operation, a victim of the violence
outside the West Bank village of Kusra was sent by helicopter from the outskirts
of Nablus to Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Karem
neighborhood, for treatment on Sunday evening.
The IDF is investigating
the possibility that Halmi Abed Elaziz Sadek Hasan, 27, was one of two
Palestinians who were shot with live ammunition by Israeli civilians during
Saturday’s clashes between area settlers, Palestinians and Israeli security
forces. A third Palestinian was wounded by a rubber bullet from Israeli security
forces.
Hasan, 27, was hit in the stomach, and rushed to Rafidia Hospital
in Nablus, where he was operated on Saturday.
But as his situation
deteriorated on Sunday, Palestinian health officials worked with the civil
administration to send him to Hadassah in Ein Karem.
The IDF, however,
could not enter Nablus for the medical transfer, nor could an Israeli helicopter
fly into the city. So physician Micha Shamir from Hadassah in Ein Karem said
that he and paramedic Moshe Salah entered Nablus to pick up Hasan.
“From
time to time we get patients from the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “What is
unusual is that we went inside [Palestinian territory] to take him out,” Shamir
said.
Representatives from the PA met them at the entrance to the city,
Shamir said.
They placed the transport monitors and other equipment in a
PA vehicle, and were driven to the hospital, he said.
He said everyone
was very polite.
“It took us an hour to prepare him for transport and to
connect him to our equipment,” Shamir said. They then went with him in a Red
Crescent ambulance under heavy police escort to the checkpoint outside Nablus,
he said.
A helicopter that had waited for them outside the city flew them
to Hadassah within 10 minutes, Shamir said.
He said the man’s condition
was serious, but stable, and that he would likely need more
surgery.
Hasan’s father, Habed, told
The Jerusalem Post he was grateful
to both the Palestinian Authority and Israel for their efforts on his son’s
behalf.
“I am asking God to help make sure he comes home in good health,”
said Habed, who had traveled to Hadassah to be at his son’s beside.
He
said that his son was a student at Al-Quds University. He added that his son
already had a small daughter and his wife was pregnant with their second
child.
Habed said that his son was shot when settlers came to the village
and attacked them. Settlers in turn have said that Palestinians attacked them by
coming close to the Esh Kodesh outpost and throwing stones.
Video footage
shows clashes taking places on the outskirts of Kusra and in the farmland
between the two communities.
One photograph on the
Kusra Facebook page
appears to show an Israeli civilian holding a handgun during the
clashes.
The IDF said that the clashes occurred between 200 Palestinians
and 25 settlers and that they were still investigating the matter.