May 26, 2018: Hussein Salem Abu ‘Oweida, 41, died from serious wounds he suffered after Israeli soldiers shot him with live fire during the March of Return protest on May 14th, 2018, where he was selling ice cream and water hundreds of meters from the protest at the border fence.
The Ministry of Health said that Hussein was shot by the army hundreds of meters away from the border fence, east of Gaza city.
The Palestinian became paralyzed on May 14th when an Israeli army bullet struck him in his spine, before he was moved to the Shifa Medical Center, in Gaza City, but died from his wounds and serious complications.
In a video message before his death, Hussein said that he was just selling ice cream and refreshment near the protest tent, hundreds of meters away from the “border fence” to provide for his children in the besieged and imprisoned coastal region.
He also voiced an appeal to President Mahmoud Abbas, and various officials, to help him out, and provide him with medical treatment.
“I call on the entire world, and President Mahmoud Abbas, to have mercy on me; I want to walk again” he said, “I am here at the Shifa hospital, I am a paralyzed man. I pray for help, I am pleading for help – calling on them to see my difficult condition… and nothing more.”
The day before, on Friday, the Health Ministry said another young man, identified as Yasser Sami Habib, 24, succumbed to wounds sustained from Israeli army gunfire during the protests on May 14.
Habib suffered a very serious injury before he was rushed to a hospital in Gaza, and was later transferred to Sr. Joseph Hospital, in occupied Jerusalem, where he succumbed to his wounds.
Two other Palestinians who were injured, during the protests on May 14, also succumbed to their wounds on Thursday evening. They have been identified as Ahmad Ali Qattoush, 23 Mohannad Bakr Abu Tahoun, 21.
Their deaths bring the number of Palestinians, killed by Israeli army fire since the Great Return March procession started on Palestinian Land Day, on March 30th, 2018, to 117 Palestinians, while more than 13.000 Palestinians have been injured, including 332 who suffered life-threatening wounds.
Gaza Strip hospital and medical centers lack basic supplies and equipment due to the lengthy and deadly siege on the Gaza Strip, and the repeated military offensives.
Hussein was from the Gaza Strip. Source: IMEMC