Aussie injured in alleged Israel military shooting

The family of an Australian student who was allegedly shot at by Israeli forces near her university campus in the West Bank are demanding an independent investigation.

The 20-year-old was flown back to Melbourne with injuries so severe doctors say she could lose vision in one eye.

Ranem Abu-Izneid thought she might never see her family again but she’s back in Australia.

“Nothing is certain. My life has been flipped upside down. I still have a lot of surgeries to go through,” she said from her bed at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be me again. If I’m going to be able to study again and achieve my dreams.”

The Australian citizen was in her third year of dentistry and had gone overseas to continue her studies.

She says she was inside her student accommodation last Friday, near Al-Quads University in Abu Dis, a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

She claims her flatmate approached the window after hearing a commotion, and was allegedly shot at by an Israeli soldier.

The bullet pierced the window frame, narrowly missing both women.

But as it hit the top corner of the room, it showered Abu-Izneid in shrapnel.

Her family says she underwent surgery in Jerusalem before enduring a painful journey to Jordan before she was eventually flown to Melbourne.

“It’s horrific to all of our family, you know, everyone we can’t believe it,” her mother, Rana Abu-Izneid, said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says it provided consular assistance but in the end, Ranman was placed on a commercial flight with no medical escort.

The Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association is disappointed with how the student was treated and is assisting her family, who are calling for an independent investigation into the alleged actions of the Israeli soldier.

“It’s so frustrating, so frustrating, I can’t imagine why we allowed this to happen,” doctor Mohammed Irrimeh, from the association, said.

The Smart Traveller website says Australians shouldn’t travel to the West Bank but this particular town near Jerusalem is considered a non-combat zone.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office has been contacted for comment, along with the Israeli embassy in Australia and the Israel Defence Forces.