“I wish I could get my leg back, ride my bike again, take my siblings and friends on rides, and carry the groceries my father buys from the market.”
Mohammad Musleh, a ten-year-old displaced child from Beit Hanoun, now lives with his mother and siblings in a worn tent on the grounds of the Islamic University — a shelter that offers no protection from the summer heat or mosquito bites.
On June 10th, Mohammad went out to search for his father, who had gone to get some flour from the "death traps" in Netzarim to feed his family .
Mohammad says:
“I got worried about my dad. I went looking for him with my aunt. A piece of shrapnel hit me from behind and cut the tendons in my right leg. People carried me in a tuk-tuk, piled on top of the wounded and the martyrs. They tied my leg with an electric cord to stop the bleeding. At the hospital, they couldn’t reconnect the tendons... they had to amputate my leg.”
An Israeli shrapnel took Mohammad’s leg. And an Israeli bullet shot the heart of Saadi — his cousin and best friend — the one he used to share his bread and games with, the one who used to go on bike rides with.
Today, Mohammad no longer walks on his feet. He said “My dream is to travel and get a prosthetic leg, so I can stand again, play soccer, laugh, and feel like I’m flying when I ride my bike. I just want to live safely like any other child in this world.
