An Australian student who was injured during an alleged military raid in the West Bank says doctors have informed her she will lose sight in her eye.
Ranem Abu Izneid, 20, suffered severe injuries after being struck by shrapnel while studying in her university accommodation in Abu Dis on November 15.
Ms Abu Izneid was flown to Melbourne for surgery, but she has been told the eye cannot be saved.
"Today they told me that there's no hope for my eye and I've lost vision in it due to nerve damage, and now all they're trying to do is preserve the actual eyeball for, you know, cosmetic reasons," she told the ABC.
"I've still got a long way to go and my dream [of being] a dentist is most likely over.
"I've been dreaming to be a dentist nearly my entire life. My mother is a dentist. It's been a dream for me too, and I was just so close."
Israeli border police have confirmed firing live rounds at buildings in the West Bank town of Abu Dis on the day she was hit.
But they have not responded to inquiries about responsibility for her injuries.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) says it has asked Israeli authorities for more information about the incident.
"The Australian government is seeking further information about the circumstances of the incident and expects a comprehensive, thorough and transparent investigation," a DFAT spokesman said.
'I didn't expect to survive'
There are conflicting accounts of how the incident unfolded.
On November 15, Israeli Border Police launched an operation in Abu Dis, a university town under the control of the Palestinian authority, rarely entered by Jewish Israelis.
An ultra-Orthodox man entered Abu Dis, reportedly harassing worshippers at a mosque, and behaving aggressively, sparking an incident further down the road in which the man's car appears to have been attacked and set alight.
A Border Police spokesperson confirmed its officers had been in Abu Dis on the day.
"The security forces entered Abu Dis in order to rescue a citizen who was attacked there," they said.
"Rioters at the place threw rocks and marble slates on the forces from the roofs of homes and, in that way, endangered their lives.
"In response, the forces responded with live fire in order to neutralise the danger."
But after further questions from the ABC, Border Police clarified their statement to say the man had left by the time they arrived at the scene, about 200 metres from Ms Abu Izneid's apartment.
Local residents, who spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals from Israeli authorities, said Border Police arrived in the area just before 3:30pm, and were only present for about half an hour.
Local witnesses say police were firing indiscriminately into the air as they walked along the street outside Ms Abu Izneid's apartment.
Locals insisted claims by police of Palestinians throwing rocks and roof slate were overblown — and that any rocks hurled at officers came from ground level.
But that did not deter police firing into the upper reaches of buildings.
Two witnesses said the police fired up to 60 rounds and it is believed that one of the shots hit the window frame of Ms Abu Izneid's home, four floors up.
She says she was in her apartment studying when she "heard the sound of [sound] bombs going off".
When she and a friend looked out their window, she says she felt "a huge kind of pressure that pushed us both away from the window".
"In that instant, to be honest, thought that I was going to bleed to death. I didn't expect to survive that," she said.
The ABC found one "flash bang" canister on the ground in the street, and witnesses said they were being fired into the street as well as live rounds as Border Police started walking back to their barracks up the hill and past Ms Abu Izneid's apartment building.
'My life has been flipped upside down'
Ms Abu Izneid says she also wants an investigation into what happened to her.
"My life has been flipped upside down because someone thought it was a great idea to pull the trigger," she said.
"I have a right to know why it's OK for me to lose my eye, why it's OK for my life to be ruined."
Ms Abu Izneid said she has a long road ahead of her to recover.
"I'm still getting used to the one-eye thing. Sometimes I miscalculate stuff, especially from the right side of my body," she said.
"Sometimes I get dizzy when I walk, because sometimes I feel like I'm actually seeing out of my right eye, but I'm not seeing. It's kind of like my brain playing tricks on me."
