The parents of a British peace activist shot in the head by Israeli troops said today they had virtually no hope that he would ever regain consciousness.
Thomas Hurndall, 21, was left brain dead as he tried to rescue two Palestinianchildren in the Gaza Strip six weeks ago.
He was hit by gunfire reportedly coming from an army marksman positioned highup in a watchtower overlooking the town of Rafah.
Today, as they brought their son home to the UK where he will receivespecialist treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London,Jocelyn and Anthony Hurndall, spoke for the first time of their terrifyingordeal and the hunt for "justice and truth".
Clearly tired and drained from the journey Mrs Hurndall, said she was"tremendously relieved" to have her son back but also resigned to the factthat he may never regain consciousness.
"It's been a very gruelling six-and-a-half weeks," she said. "I'm delightedto have Tom home. It feels very right.
"He knows the Royal Free from past injuries and it feels very comfortable tohave him here but we are not hopeful of Tom ever coming out of his coma. We havebeen told as much."
Mrs Hurndall, who said she and her husband had been greatly "warmed andastounded" by the support they had received from people in Britain, added:
"I'm enormously proud of Tom's very strong desire to seek out injustice and hewas very busy in doing that.
"We have his journals, which we thank heaven we have, and they give us a deepinsight into Tom's last week before he was shot.
"It tells us about the injustice he was coming across daily. In his first twohours in Rafah, he had been shot at repeatedly."
She went on to say that when she was told of the incident she went white withshock.
"We have been physically exhausted from the range of emotions that we havegone through and we have been very dependent on everybody's support outthere."
Tom's father said his son was the third civilian shot in the same location byIsraeli troops in the space of 48 hours. Two Palestinians, both teenagers, werekilled just a day before Tom was attacked.
The incident began when a dozen members of the International SolidarityMovement, of which Tom was a member, walked towards Israeli tanks on theoutskirts of the Rafah refugee camp.
A number of shots were fired, according to witnesses, at local residents andchildren and Tom had run to the aid of three children who were too scared tomove.
Describing an Israeli army report into the shooting as "fabrication" he saidthat the family had received little or no co-operation from the Israeliauthorities and have been forced to undertake their own investigation.
The 53-year-old, from Camden, north London, said they would publish theIsraeli report given to them in the next week or so once they had formulatedtheir own conclusions.
But after 20 pages, Mrs Hurndall added, only three or four dealt with theshooting incident and were "minimalist" in detail.
The parents dispute the Israeli claims that only one shot was fired and thatthat shot was aimed at a man holding a gun.
They claim that the Israelis are carrying out a terror campaign to intimidatelocal Palestinian people and are effectively working against any course forpeace.
Mr Hurndall went on to say that they arrived in Israel six weeks ago with openminds.
"We, like Tom, only want to find out the truth.
"Tom was trying to reveal the truth, to observe and to report on it. For usthere are clearly problems in the region.
"We would like to see them solved and we would like to see Tom part of thatsolution.
"But we can only solve a problem when we understand it. To understand we needto know the truth.
"But we were told that we were unlikely to get the truth from an army inquiryand that expectation was, I'm sorry to say, fulfilled."
Tom's parents, who said they were also shot at as they toured Rafah in thelast six weeks, were tonight by his bedside.
Over the next few days doctors at the Royal Free Hospital's neurological unitwill assess their son's condition.
PA