Man with Down syndrome attacked by Israeli dog in Gaza Strip and left to die, mother says

The Israeli military has admitted that a Palestinian man with Down syndrome who was attacked by an army dog ​​in Gaza was left alone by soldiers after his family was asked to leave the compound.

Mohammed Bhar was found dead by his family a week later. When asked by the BBC, the Israeli army said that the troops had left Mohammed Bhar alone because soldiers injured in a rocket attack needed their help.

Warning: Some of the following details may be disturbing to readers.

His family was always there. When he was bullied and beaten at school, they were there to hug him when he came home. And when the war started and he was terrorized by the noise of the falling bombs, someone always said that everything would be OK.

Muhammed was heavy and could hardly move. He spent his days sitting in an armchair. If he needed anything, a niece or nephew was at his side.

Muhammed Bhar was 24 and had Down syndrome and autism. His mother, Nabila Bhar, 70, told the BBC: “He didn’t know how to eat, drink or change his clothes. I was the one who changed his diapers. I was the one who fed him. He didn’t know how to do anything on his own.”

On June 27, war returned to the Bhar family’s neighborhood and Muhammed’s little world shrank even further. Along with other residents of Shejaiya, east of Gaza city center, the Bhars received evacuation orders from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Israeli forces advanced into Shejaiya to pursue Hamas fighters fighting from tunnels and houses, but the Bhars were tired of the advance.

In a tired tone, the widow Nabila listed the names of the houses of relatives where they had sought shelter.

“We were evacuated about 15 times. We went to Jibreel’s house, but then Jibreel’s house was bombed. We went to Haydar Square, but then Haydar Square was bombed. We went to Rimal, but then Rimal was bombed. We went to Shawa Square, but Shawa Square was bombed.”

Fighting in the surrounding streets intensified. They hid in various parts of the house, often in the bathroom when the shooting became particularly intense.

“We were under siege for seven days. Tanks and soldiers were all around the house… Mohammed was sitting on his sofa… and he didn’t like sitting anywhere else,” says Nabila.

For Mohammed, war meant loud, brutal noises, the air vibrating with the shock of grenades exploding nearby. He could not explain any of it.

“He panicked and said, ‘I’m scared, scared,’” Nabila recalls.

“He always said ‘Hey, hey’ and thought someone was going to hit him. He was always scared and frightened. We came to him and comforted him. He didn’t understand much. His autism made it very difficult.”

On July 3, the family says, Israeli forces raided their home on Nazaz Street. Nabila says there were several dozen soldiers on site with a fighting dog – animals used to track down Hamas fighters and search for booby traps and explosives.

First she heard them “breaking in and smashing everything” before the soldiers and the dog entered the room.

She says of Muhammed: “I told them: ‘He is disabled, disabled. Have mercy on him, he is disabled. Keep the dog away from him.'”

Nabila saw the animal attack Mohammed.

“The dog attacked him, biting his chest and then his hand. Muhammed didn’t speak, he just mumbled ‘no, no, no’. The dog bit his arm and was bleeding. I wanted to get to him, but I couldn’t. No one could get to him and he patted the dog on the head and said ‘enough, my dear, enough’. Finally he let go of his hand and the dog started to pull at him while he bled.”

At about that point, Nabila says, the soldiers took the young man to another room and away from the dog. They tried to treat his wounds.

A frightened Muhammad, who had always relied on his family for help, now found himself in the care of combat soldiers who had come from streets where they had engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Hamas.

“They took him away, put him in a separate room and locked the door. We wanted to see what happened to him. We wanted to see Muhammed, to know what had become of him,” says Nabila.

“They told us to be quiet and pointed their guns at us. They took us to a room where we were alone, and Muhammed was alone in another room. They said, ‘We will get a military doctor to treat him.'” At one point, Nabila said, a military doctor came and went into the room where Muhammed was lying.

Muhammed’s niece, 11-year-old Janna Bhar, described how the family begged the soldiers to help him. “We told them that Muhammed was not well, but they kept saying that he was fine.”

After several hours – it is not clear how many – the family was ordered to leave at gunpoint and Muhammed remained with the soldiers. There were pleas and screams. Two of his brothers were arrested by the army. They have still not been released. The rest of the family found shelter in a bombed-out building.

When they returned a week later, they were confronted with a sight that still haunts Mohammed’s brother Jibreel. He pulls out his mobile phone and shows our cameraman a video of the scene.

Mohammed’s body lies on the ground, surrounded by blood and with a tourniquet on his arm, most likely to stop heavy bleeding from his upper arm. Jibreel points to gauze used to bandage a wound and notices the blood that has clotted after the tourniquet was applied.

“They tried to stop the bleeding. Then they left him without stitches or care. Just these basic first aid measures. As you can see, Muhammed had been dead for some time, of course, because he had been abandoned. We thought he was not at home. But it turned out that he had been bleeding all the time and was alone at home. Of course, the army left him behind.”

It is not clear what injury caused Muhammed’s death, nor what happened to him when his family last saw him and when his brother returned and filmed the dead young man on the ground. He was buried in an alley between houses shortly after the family found him because it was too dangerous to take the body to the morgue or cemetery. There was no autopsy or death certificate.

The family is demanding an investigation into the incidents, but with fighting still ongoing and so many dead, there is little hope that this will happen soon.

The Israeli military confirmed to the BBC that an army dog ​​attacked Mr Bhar and that the soldiers left him to his own devices after providing him with initial medical treatment. According to the IDF, the soldiers entered the house during heavy fighting “as part of an operation against the terrorists”.

During the search of the building, the dog “bit a person.” He was given medical treatment and the family was “urged to leave the apartment so as not to remain in the combat zone.”

The army said troops then left Mr Bhar alone because soldiers injured by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) elsewhere needed help. One of those soldiers died.

The statement said that “the Israeli army regrets any harm to civilians during the fighting” and that Hamas uses civilians as human shields. The statement did not mention Mr. Bhar’s condition when the soldiers abandoned him.

Nabila is left with the image of her dead child, who just won’t go away. “I will never forget that scene… I keep seeing the dog tearing at him and his hand and the blood pouring out of his hand… It’s always in front of my eyes and never leaves me for a moment. We couldn’t save him, neither from them nor from the dog.”

This story was updated on July 19 with an IDF response

With additional reporting by Haneen Abdeen and Alice Doyard.