Arab woman receives kidney of Jewish man lynched in violent attacks

‘I thank Yigal’s family ... he has become part of my family,’ says patient

Randa Awis said her donor was like a part of her family (Fox News )

A kidney from a Jewish man lynched in a violent attack in Israel has been donated to an Arab woman.

Randa Awis, who had waited nine years for an organ, said after the operation that she wished for peace between us Jews and Arabs.

Ferocious cross-border fighting in Gaza, which is believed to have killed more than 240 people, has prompted wider violence.

Yigal Yehoshua, 56, died of his wounds from reportedly being hit on the head by a brick during a night of disturbances in Lod, near Tel Aviv last week. Doctors had fought for days to save him.

His family decided to donate his organs, which were transplanted into the bodies of five patients, Israeli National News said.

After her operation, Ms Awis said: “I thank Yigal’s family, from heaven they will be comforted and Yigal is in a better place. For me, he has become part of my family.”

The 58-year-old Arab, who lives in Jerusalem, told Israeli broadcaster N12: “I feel much better now. This Jewish kidney has now become a part of me. My daughter grew up with Jews and speaks Hebrew like them. We are all human beings.”

Of the fighting, she said: “All my life I have lived with Jews and there has never been such a thing. It hurts me for the little children who are harmed in this war. There should be peace between us.”

Nivin Awis, one of her daughters, said it was “crazy” that Mr Yehoshua had been killed by Arabs “and we too are Arabs - it is indescribable”.

She said her family would be happy to meet his: “We’ll tell them that we participate in their sorrow, we are not in favour of murder of children or adults, no murder whatsoever, we will say thank you for what they did for us, easing our lives. For our mother it was previously very difficult.”

Fayrouz, another daughter, said: “I want to meet Yigal’s family, we will for ever have something that belongs to them. We are all human beings and there should be no free hatred here.”

Abed Khalaileh, director of the transplant unit at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Centre, said: “I want to say a big thank you to the donor’s family, this is a very unfortunate case and it is impossible not to think about the difficulty the family is going through… Life has to go on and we will help everyone.”