Esawyeh: A rubber bullet causes a Jerusalemite woman to lose her left eye
The 52-year old Fatima Mahmoud Obeid lost her left eye after being injured by a rubber bullet while standing at her balcony in the village of Esawyeh.
Obeid family explained that Fatima is currently being treated in Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. According to check-up she underwent, the bullet caused her fractures in her skull and damaged her left eye.
Fatima’s husband, Rajab Obeid, said his wife was standing at the balcony of their apartment (5th floor) concurrently with the presence of occupation forces in the neighborhood after verbal altercations had broken out between two families in the village. Rajab said the forces randomly fired rubber bullets in the area and his wife was targeted by one especially that the location of the forces was far from their residency.
Obeid also said his wife lost consciousness after the injury; her son-in-law was standing next to her when she got injured and immediately transferred her to the hospital for treatment.
The committee “One Hand for Esawyeh” requested all local and international human rights organizations to investigate the incident of targeting Fatima Obeid with a rubber bullet that caused her to lose her left eye.
The committees said in a statement that Fatima Obeid was on the fifth floor which confirms that random firing of rubber bullets, and wondered how could somebody be injured while standing at this altitude?
The committee added in its statement that the forces raid the village of Esawyeh on a daily basis and around the hour, and fire rubber bullets and grenades under various pretext neglecting the locals’ safety as several locals were injured by rubber bullets. For example, Louai Obeid (29) was targeted by a rubber bullet on 21/10/2015 after going on his balcony on the third floor when there were no clashes in the street. Also, Ahmad Tawfiq Abu Hummos was injured by a rubber bullet in his head, activist Mohammad Abu Hummos was hit in his leg while Ala’ Salah was directly and lost his eye; he is currently detained in the occupation’s prisons. Investigation files have been closed for those cases and many others.
Mohammad Abu Hummos, member of “One Hand for Esawyeh denounced closing the investigation files of those cases and not really investigating them under the pretext of “lack of evidence”. He appealed for international organizations to put pressure on the occupation authorities to protect the locals and prevent these incidents from happening again.
Abu Hummos added that the authorities cause problems through their daily raids on the village and use of rubber bullets and at times live bullets without any need for it. ‘
