Palestinian boy's leg amputated after Israel border shooting

RAMALLAH: Doctors have amputated the leg of a Palestinian boy whose image went viral after he was shot by Israeli troops on the Gaza border with Israel.

THE IMAGE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST IS DISTURBING- VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

A picture of 12-year-old Abdel Rahman Nawfal screaming in pain after being shot was widely shared on Palestinian and Arabic social media last week after he was shot near the border fence.

The shooting occurred on Tuesday during the protest along the frontier east of Al-Bureij in central Gaza.

He was later taken from Gaza to the West Bank for treatment but doctors were unable to save the leg.

Attempting to smile as he lay on his hospital bed in Ramallah, Nawfal said he had been stoning Israeli soldiers close to the border when he was shot.

He said he dreamed of becoming a doctor and would still like to realise that dream.

To leave Gaza for treatment in the West Bank, Palestinians have to get permits from Israel which critics say are difficult to obtain.

On Friday, Gaza teenager Mohammed Ayoub was killed by Israeli gunfire during border protests.

The 15-year-old’s death, and the wounding of other youths brought a scathing response from a senior United Nations official.

“It is OUTRAGEOUS to shoot at children… #Children must be protected from #violence, not exposed to it,” UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Nikolay Mladenov wrote on Twitter.

Forty Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since wide-scale protest broke out on March 30.