Gazans With Down Syndrome Died After Being Attacked By Israeli Army Dogs

JAKARTA - A man in the Gaza Strip, Palestine with down syndrome died as a result of an Israeli army dog attack, the family said.

Mohammed Bahar, 24, who had difficulty speaking, managed to scream "Please, stop! Please, stop", when the animal attacked him on July 3.

Nabila, his mother, witnessed the incident after Israeli forces surrounded the 12-member family at their residence in the east of Gaza city.

"Children heard the voices of the Israeli army and started crying in fear. We started screaming, saying we were civilians," Nabila told The National, as reported July 17.

Suddenly, he continued, a dog appeared where Mohammed sat in his favorite spot on the sofa. The family tried to pull Mohammed to the side, but the dog was faster and attacked him, biting his shoulder.

"I started screaming, 'help him', when the dog bit Mohammed," Nabila bitter.

But there was no reaction. Then the dog attacked Mohammed's arm.

Mohammed tried to calm the dog down, pat it with his other hand, but it didn't stop. Mohammed stopped fighting back, and his arm started bleeding.

Nabila said: "Then a number of Israeli soldiers entered the house and pointed their weapons at my child. I screamed and told them to leave him alone because he was disabled. They eventually took the dog away from Mohammed, but his hands were already injured and bleeding."

He said Israeli soldiers locked Mohammed in a room. He asked them to explain what happened, telling him they had brought a doctor to Mohammed.

"I asked them to bring Mohammed to me, but they refused. I could hear Mohammed asking for water, then they told me they had taken care of him," he said.

Nabila continued to ask to see her son, but Israeli soldiers refused and ordered all women and children to go to the western part of Gaza city. They arrested two sons of Nabila, whose fate is still unknown.

"I refused to leave. I told them I would go with Mohammed," Nabila said.

He said the army informed him, Mohammed was with them and threatened to kill my family if I didn't leave. "

Nabila left her house, unable to do anything for her son.

Sarah Bahar, Mohammed's sister, tried to come back and check on Mohammed but didn't work.

"My brother, who was not with us when the Israeli army came back home 10 days later to check on Mohammed. He found Mohammed lying on the floor, dead, with his body starting to rot and no signs of medical treatment," said Sarah.

"They lied to us; they didn't take care of him. They left him to die."

"Mohammed usually doesn't speak. But at that time, he spoke, asking the dog to stop. Asking for him to be saved," said Sarah.

It was not clear what injured Mohammed's death or what happened to him when he was ordered to stay with the Israeli army. The National contacted the Israeli military, but there was no comment.

The family said Mohammed, who also suffers from autism, likes to exercise, dance and eat MOlokhi, a well-known Palestinian dish. He is also very close to his mother, spending most of his time with him.

Mohammed lost his father in 2002, in an Israeli attack during an invasion of eastern Gaza while working as a security guard at a car repair shop.