A London doctor said he was among 17 or 18 paramedics shot during deadly protests along the Gaza-Israeli border on Monday.
Dr. Tarek Loubani of the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) said he was part of a medical team on site for what he described as a peaceful protest involving unarmed Palestinians.
“There was a decision taken by the Palestinian people in the run-up to the series of protests to make them peaceful,” Loubani said on The Craig Needles Show on Tuesday.
“We were there as a medical team working on a few things, including trialing a tourniquet, because so many Palestinians die of bleeding out when they get shot and we can’t get them to hospital in time. We were a team of about 12 or so paramedics in the site where we were.”
Loubani, who made headlines before in 2013 after spending 50 days in an Egyptian prison, said he was shot during a lull.
“I was wearing my full hospital greens, actually my LHSC hospital greens,” he explained.
“I was a minimum of 25 metres away from any protester. It was clear and I could clearly see the snipers and they could probably better-than-clearly see me.”
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The bullet hit the left side of his left leg, traveled through the leg, and then hit his right leg, superficial to the knee. While Loubani will require rehabilitation, he said if an exploding bullet had been used, he would have needed an amputation.
“The guy who actually rescued me when I got shot, the guy who treated me when I got shot — he was shot an hour later and died.”
Loubani added that he understands he cannot be on the front-line right now, but he’s hoping that if he can heal well enough to stand in one spot then he can stay in the hospital.
“It’s easy to stay in London and to live the good life, as it were,” he said when asked why he continues returning to the area.
“There is need, and I have ability. I go to where there’s need.”
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