Twenty-one-year-old Alaa ad-Dali was among the recipients of 1,100 bicycles Turkey sent as gifts to the Gaza Strip, to improve cycling as a sport in the Palestinian territory under an Israeli blockade.

For two years after receiving the bicycle, ad-Dali worked hard to become a long-distance cyclist, his childhood dream. But little did he know that his dreams would come crashing when he joined the activists at the Great March of Return.

The young cyclist was among those rallying on the Gaza border for a six-week protest that will end in May, calling for a right of return for Palestinians driven from their hometowns during the creation of Israel. Some 41 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops indiscriminately firing on protesters since the rallies began on March 30.

"I had an athlete's uniform and was visiting tents of [protesters], when an Israeli bullet hit me," ad-Dali told Anadolu Agency (AA). He was only 200 meters away from the barbed wire marking the border. "I felt like being electrocuted when I was hit. I was in a pool of blood when I fell down," he recounted the moments of shooting as a bullet hit him in the right leg.

He was taken to a nearby hospital, which was already flooded with people injured in the protest. He had to wait for about three hours for treatment and was admitted to intensive care where he spent two days. He underwent eight surgeries as desperate doctors raced against time to save his leg from amputation but all efforts proved futile.

Leaning on the crutches he is trying to get accustomed to, ad-Dali says he feels like his dreams were "shattered altogether." Nevertheless, he believes he can rebuild them and "hang the Palestinian flag high" in the cycling world, "if only I can have a prosthetic leg." Time will tell if he can resume what was a budding career that he hoped would flourish as he competed for a spot in the Palestinian cycling team for an upcoming event in Indonesia.

Riding since eight, ad-Dali had made it to the Palestinians' national cycling team in 2014 and had several medals under his belt. He says he hoped to win more. "I am grateful to Turkey for helping us realize our dreams," ad-Dali said.

He counts on the country for his treatment too as the Gaza Strip, under the Israeli blockade, suffers from a severe shortage in medical staff and medical equipment for prosthetic surgery.

Earlier this month, three wheelchair-bound siblings from the Gaza Strip were transferred to Turkey with Ankara's efforts. Siblings between the ages of one and nine, who were born with a congenital amputation, will be implanted with prosthetic legs.

Cycling is among a few fledgling sports for would-be athletes in Gaza. Saed Tamraz, head of Federation of Palestinian Cyclists says along with regular bicycles, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally sent 10 racing bicycles to them. "We didn't have bicycles complying with international standards for racing. We couldn't afford them before," Tamraz told AA. "Erdoğan's gifts helped us set up a cycling team in Gaza," he added. Still, they need more bicycles as their team grows. Another obstacle they face is the ban on travel imposed by Israel. They were invited to three different races but Israel prevented them from traveling to the West Bank and Tunisia. Egypt, which controls a border with Gaza, also prevented them from leaving for Jordan for another competition.

Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has suffered a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has deprived the enclave's roughly 1.9 million inhabitants of their most basic needs, especially food, fuel, medicine and construction supplies. The Gaza Strip largely depends on foreign aid as the economy has stalled under the Israeli blockade.