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Palestinian parents donate organs of child killed by soldiers to Israeli patients


The parents of a twelve-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers have donated his organs to Israeli patients. Ahmed al-Khatib, was shot last Thursday, on the first day of the post-Ramadan Eid al-Fitr holidays. He was wearing his new holiday clothes and according to some witnesses, was playing with other children with a plastic toy gun. Israeli soldiers saw him from about 130 metres away and shot him twice, once in the torso and once in the head. The soldiers said they thought the boy was an armed gunman. Ahmed was transferred from Jenin's hospital to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, where he was soon pronounced clinically dead. After three days of staying with his dying child in the hospital and learning that Ahmed had no chance of survival, his father decided to donate the boy's organs. A close family member of theirs had once died for lack of a kidney transplant, he said. Mr Khatib said he hoped the gesture would speak to the conscience of all Israeli fathers and mothers so that they might work to end the cycle of violence in the Holy Land. More than 700 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the past five years. Around 100 Israeli children have also been killed in the violence. Six Israelis received Ahmed's organs, including a twelve-year-old girl named Samah Gadban who had been waiting five years to receive a heart transplant. Samah's father told Haaretz, "I don't know what to say. It is such a gesture of love... I would like for [the family] to think that my daughter is their daughter." Other recipients of Ahmed's organs include a six-month-old baby, a 56-year-old woman, two five-year-old boys, and a four-year-old girl. Mr. Khatib said he hoped to meet the recipients of his son's organs, and he hoped that the gesture would be a step toward peace between peoples. "I don't mind seeing the organs in an Israeli or a Palestinian. In our religion, God allows us to give organs to another person and it doesn't matter who the person is," said Mr Khatib. His hope is that the donations will send a message of peace to Israelis and Palestinians. Source: Palestinian Monitor

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