Lawyers for an Australian dentistry student who lost her eye after being struck by shrapnel in the occupied West Bank say they doubt Israel is investigating the matter despite the foreign minister, Penny Wong, demanding a comprehensive probe.
Palestinian-Australian student Ranem Abu-Izneid, 20, was sheltering with her friend on 15 November 2024 at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, when she says a bullet fired by Israeli forces penetrated the window. She later lost her right eye.
“The Australian government continues to seek updates from Israel into the incident and has made clear that it expects a comprehensive, thorough and transparent investigation to be conducted,” a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.
Wong has called for a transparent review of the incident during talks with the Israeli foreign minister and the Israeli ambassador to Australia, sources said.
But Abu-Izneid’s lawyer, Lara Khider – who is the acting executive director of the Australian Council for International Justice (ACIJ) – said five months after her client was severely injured, Israeli authorities had not publicly acknowledged the incident or announced an investigation.
The Australian government told the ACIJ in March that an investigation had commenced “though no updates, timeline or findings of this investigation have been provided”, Khider said before Dfat issued its latest statement.
“There must now be doubts – indeed, severe doubts – as to whether this investigation is taking place at all.
“Accountability cannot truly be achieved unless a thorough, transparent and timely investigation takes place and prosecutorial actions are pursued for unlawful conduct, extending not only to direct perpetrators but also to those responsible within the chain of command.”
Khider also said Abu-Izneid deserved “reasonable reparations in light of [her] now permanent disability”.
Abu-Izneid said: “We want to know what happened and why it happened.” She said the incident had been “swept under the rug”.
An Israel border police spokesperson previously confirmed officers entered Abu Dis on the day of the incident to rescue a citizen who was reportedly under attack.
“Rioters at the place threw rocks and marble slates on the forces from the roofs of homes and, in that way, endangered their lives,” the spokesperson told the ABC. “In response, the forces responded with live fire in order to neutralise the danger.”
But the border police had not accepted responsibility for Abu-Izneid’s injuries, the ABC reported.
Abu-Izneid was at the university in Abu Dis when she heard explosions and soldiers shouting.
She watched her friend peek out a window of their dormitory building, she recalled last week from regional Victoria. Then she felt a strong push – as if a wall had “slapped” her.
When she regained consciousness, she saw her friend looking terrified, she said. Blood was spurting from her eye onto her friend’s face. There was no time to think. They crawled to the kitchen, away from the windows.
Abu-Izneid said she reached up to touch her face and felt it “was clearly not … right”. It felt like “strings” were coming out of her right eye as she grabbed them with her hands.
Her friend called an ambulance – and though they were stationed just across the street they couldn’t help, Abu-Izneid told Guardian Australia.
“They said ‘we can’t make it, the border police are still in the way, and if we show up they’re most likely going to shoot us too’. They had to find another way to get to us.”
She eventually made it to Ramallah hospital and then over the border to St John eye hospital in Jerusalem.
The Australian embassy sent a car to transport Abu-Izneid to the Jericho terminal border crossing on 19 November. She understands they were involved in talks to help her cross the Israeli border.
But Abu-Izneid claims that is where the assistance from Australia stopped. She passed into Jordan on a special shuttle service she paid for herself. She subsequently flew home to Australia with her father.
The ACIJ has claimed: “The Australian government did not uphold a standard of care and responsiveness expected under the circumstances of Raneem’s urgent and extraordinary situation.”
Overseas consular staff can’t provide medical services or medications and Dfat’s Smartraveller website notes they can’t “pay for medical or psychiatric services or medications”.
Abu-Izneid was treated at the Royal Melbourne hospital and is now studying at the University of Melbourne.
Shrapnel travelled through Abu-Izneid’s right eye and cracked the back of her skull, doctors told her.
Shrapnel also lodged in Abu-Izneid’s face and chest. Her right eye was removed in Melbourne but pieces of shrapnel remain in her face.
“You can see them from the dark spots on my face, and you can actually touch them,” she said. “You can feel them. Unfortunately, it is going to have to stay with me.”
The student previously completed exercises like drilling into cavities with precision.
Now, without her right eye, the 20-year-old’s depth perception has been hindered. “I can’t tell how far something is,” she said. “I need help … to pour water from a jug into a cup.”
She said her backup plan was to work in childcare but she now doesn’t know if that is an option. Abu-Izneid said when her young siblings first saw her after the incident, they were scared of how she looked.
“They know that there is something wrong there,” she said. “I have dark spots in my face. I have a few scars. It is quite scary for them.”
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli foreign ministry were contacted for comment.
