Palestinian Boy, 13, Tortured and Left with Amputated Leg After Israeli Soldier Attack

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy, Mahmoud al-Dura, was shot and tortured by Israeli soldiers in October 2025. The incident left him with a severe leg injury that later required amputation. His family has faced repeated violence, including the destruction of their home and the killing of his brother the year before.

On 25 October 2025, Mahmoud was gathering wood with friends in Bureij refugee camp when Israeli forces opened fire. A bullet struck his right leg, leaving him unable to move as his companions fled. Soldiers then approached, asked if he was Jamal al-Dura's son, and carried him away on a wooden board to a detention facility near the border.

During his detention, Mahmoud endured brutal treatment. Soldiers taunted him with photos of his parents' ID cards, threatening to kill them in retaliation for his father's activism. They also tied his injured leg with metal wires and pressed on the wound while drinking Coca-Cola in front of him. Four days after the shooting, his leg was amputated above the thigh. The al-Dura family has suffered repeated losses. In January 2024, Mahmoud's brother Ahmad was killed by a drone strike while returning from their aunt's funeral. A year later, in January 2025, the Israeli army demolished their five-story home in Bureij, leaving them in a damaged structure at risk of collapse. No other children from the family have been reported killed or seriously injured since Muhammad al-Dura's death in 2000.

Mahmoud now lives with his family in their unstable, half-destroyed home. He hopes to receive a prosthetic limb to replace his amputated leg. The repeated attacks have left the family with no safe place to go.