Left: A crying mother passes through the crowd like a ghost in Ramallah Hospital at 6:00pm. Her son, a Birzeit University student called Yasser Abdul Ghani, was the first to be shot with live ammunition today. His whole family had gathered outside the intensive care unit. Photo by Nigel Parry.

I was shocked by the scenes inside the hospital. Blood was all over the floors and walls, the sheer numbers of wounded - 263 - making it impossible for staff to find time to clean. Worried people were desparately trying to find out what had happened to missing friends and relatives.

The Palestinian Police had to control the crowds outside. This level of killing at a demonstration had not been seen for many years in Palestine and people were very upset and angry.

Right: A Birzeit student lies on a hospital bed while a friend sits with him. According to the administrative director, who I spoke with at 10:50pm, hospital records stated that 4 people had been killed, including a 15-year-old boy, and 263 injured. Photo by Nigel Parry.

About twenty-five of the wounded still remained in the hospital but the rest were stable enough to be discharged. Two men lay brain dead in intensive care. I found out more information about Yasser Abdul Ghani, shot with live ammunition in the chest. The bullet, which ricocheted inside his chest cavity, stuck both sides of his heart and a lung.

When I went to see him in intensive care he was stable but still critical. Pictures of Yasser appear later on in this section of the diary.

left: Palestinian Minister Jamil Tarifi is unpopular amongst Palestinians, as his construction company's interests from pre-Oslo days included the building of many Israeli settlements. Photo by Nigel Parry

During Ramallah's redeployment, as Jewish settlers from nearby Beit El were building a bypass road, trucks with Tarifi's name on it were seen on the road. Accusations of corruption in the Palestinian elections, including ballot box stuffing, were never investigated.

Tarifi today was shocked by the scenes in the hospital. This photograph was taken while he was being interviewed by local Palestinian reporters.

Visible behind him on the left is Mustapha 'Issa, or "Abu Firaas", the Palestinian Authority governor of Ramallah.

On the floor around us, cots were being set up as ad hoc beds for the high numbers of injured. New systems were being implemented in every part of the hospital to cope with the events.

Many Birzeit University students were visible in white gowns, having volunteered as interns.