Combat dog set on Palestinian with Down syndrome and left to die
A Palestinian family hiding in their home in eastern Gaza City’s Shujaiya when Israeli soldiers stormed it has suffered an unimaginable level of horror.
Muhammed, 24, who had Down syndrome desperately screamed as he tried to free himself from a combat dog unleashed by Israeli soldiers.
“The dog bit his chest, then started biting and mauling his arm. Muhammed was screaming and trying to free himself as the blood poured,” his mother recalled to MEE.
“Muhammed could not speak or say any word, but out of horror, he was screaming at the dogs, sometimes saying ‘wala, wala’ [hey you], and sometimes ‘Khalas ya habibi’ [enough, my dear].
“I don’t know how he uttered these words; we had never heard him speak before.”
Dogs were sent into the family home first, attacking Muhammed, and then he was moved into another room, out of sight of the family.
His mother Nabila Ahmed Bhar could only guess her son’s fate through the screams as she was forced, at gunpoint, to leave the area.
It took seven more days for the Israeli troops to leave the area. The family headed back to their apartment on Wednesday where they found Muhammed’s decomposing body with worms eating his face.
“I cannot stop thinking of his screams and the image of him trying to free himself,” said Bhar.
‘He was innocent … he could not understand’
Muhammed’s Down syndrome was severe, she explained. His mental development “was at the level of a baby” according to her.
“Muhammed was very innocent. He could not understand… He couldn’t grasp anything.
“He was like a one-year-old. I used to feed him and change his diaper.
“I cannot bear to think of what they did to him, or how they left him to die like this.”
Since the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza, combat dogs have been systematically used to search buildings, including hospitals.
In many cases, these dogs were allowed to attack civilians.
With hospitals in Gaza not operating and roads deported by Israeli bombardment, the family were unable to call an ambulance or transport Muhammed’s body to a cemetery. He was buried near his home.