Anti-wall protester shot in Nil'in

December 4, 2009

Ni'lin - Ma'an - Israeli forces shot a Palestinian teenager with live fire during a weekly anti-wall protest in the village of Ni'lin on Friday.

Two medics said the 19-year-old, identified as Hasan Khaled Nafa, was shot in the right groin by a "tutu" bullet. A third medic said the ammunition was a ".22 sniper bullet."

Ma'an's correspondent, reporting from the scene, said the teenager lost large amounts of blood and was treated with a transfusion on-site. He was transferred to the Ramallah Government Hospital following the transfusion, the reporter added.

An Israeli court outlawed the "tutu" ammunition in 2001, but soldiers began using it again last month. Israeli rights organizations insist the bullet is a deadly weapon, as it has killed Palestinians in the past.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that soldiers fired the bullet, a type he said was reserved for "exceptionally violent rioters" and only those posing a threat to security forces.

The official added that several people hurled rocks with the intent to hurt soldiers, who responded with riot-dispersal means, before shooting a Palestinian male in the lower body.

About 150 Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters participated in the demonstration. Israeli forces met the demonstrators with fire when they approached a wall being constructed through the middle of Nil'in.

Two weeks earlier, Israeli forces injured two Palestinians in the same village. One of them was hospitalized and underwent surgery in Ramallah after he was similarly shot in the groin.