Middle East

Family of injured Palestinian boy who was denied treatment angry

As the call for the sunset prayers rings out in part of East Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood, many locals have gathered not at the mosque, but outside the Manasrah family household. 

Even on Thursday, three days after 15-year-old Hasan Manasrah was killed after allegedly stabbing two Israelis in a nearby settlement, a steady flow of people passes through the tents set up to mourn his death. A Palestinian flag flies at the gate of their home; a poster declares Hasan a martyr. 

The incident has gripped the attention of the Palestinian public, and politicians on both sides, not so much because of Hasan's death but because of a video of his younger cousin Ahmad, 13, who joined him in the alleged attack.

It pictured the boy, his legs bent beneath him after being hit by a car, being denied medical treatment and sworn at by angry Israelis, who said they hoped he would die. 

The uncle of the cousins, also named Ahmad, explained to Anadolu Agency the anger the family felt when they saw the video of the 13-year-old, who they say they have not been allowed to visit in the hospital since the incident on Monday. 

"I am a father and he is my brother's son. Any father in the world would be very angry when he sees his son lying on the ground, bleeding and the soldiers and the civilians and the policemen around him, and the ambulance that's supposed to save him, are looking at him without doing anything, without helping him," said the boy's uncle. 

He said that since the attack, the police have twice visited the family. The first time, to arrest one of the boys, a 17-year-old, who they claimed tried to attack a police officer and seize his gun. 

"They beat him hard, they broke his bones, and he's in jail now," said Ahmad, pointing to his own ribs to indicate where the boy was struck. "The second time, they told us that if anyone in this area throws a stone [during protests] they will break the hands of all the people here."

Ahmad, the boys' uncle, added that the authorities have refused to hand over Hasan's body, in line with a measure passed by Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday that applied to any Palestinian killed after allegedly attacking an Israeli. 

The video of Ahmad lying on the ground sparked anger on social media, with many claiming that he had died, including the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a speech Wednesday. 

Some have compared it to the death of Mohammad Durrah, a 12-year-old boy who was killed by Israeli fire, while hiding behind his father, himself crouched behind a concrete block to avoid the bullets. The video, filmed at the beginning of the second intifada, became one of the most lasting images of the five-year uprising. 

The Israeli government has been eager to dispel that comparison; with official Twitter accounts being used to spread the image of the 13-year-old Ahmad alive in his hospital bed. 

His uncle said however that the video of the boy is still troubling and possibly more complicated than the killing of Durrah. 

"Muhammad Durrah was shot by soldiers. Here civilians, policemen, paramedics; all of them share in this crime," he said. 

Israel also responded to Palestinian denials that Ahmad was involved in a stabbing by releasing footage Thursday that appeared to show both boys running through an Israeli settlement with knives in their hands. 

His uncle however said he does not believe the claims. "[But] if they did that, they are kids."

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