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As the boys walked along Gaza's streets, an Israeli missile struck right next to them throwing all four to the ground. The ambulance raced to take them to the overwhelmed hospital where people kept pouring in to be treated from their injuries. The still boys' bodies were severely burnt and covered in blood. Doctors found themselves too late to save them.
At the morgue the bodies were put in the freezer awaiting their families to take them for burial. More bodies kept coming in, and the freezer kept filling up. Ten minutes after the boys were put in, the freezer door opened to put in more bodies. 15-year-old Mahmoud Mohsen's body laid silent next to his three friends. But his fingers suddenly twitched.
Although Mahmoud is luckier than his mates for having survived that attack, over crowdedness and lack of resources at Gaza's hospitals almost gave him a similar fate. The combined siege and attacks on the Gaza Strip, a "bigger holocaust" as described by Israel's deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai, has taken its toll on the Gazan health sector.
But the injuries sustained by victims like Mahmoud during Israel's Hot Winter Operation have also proven to be abnormal and profound. Dr. Khaled Rady, spokesman for the Health Ministry in the Hamas government in Gaza, says that during the attacks, doctors have noticed strange types of injuries that they are not used to seeing, even during the time of war. These include burnt organs and torn-up tissues.
"We've [also] noticed that some patients received at the hospitals with mild injuries, after a short period, their conditions deteriorate to critical," Rady told IslamOnline.net.
This has led doctors inside and outside of Gaza to raise questions over not just the legality of Israel's attacks, but of the weapons being used by Israel against the Palestinian Gazans.
New Weapons
Israel's use of illegal weapons is being investigated by New Weapons, an independent group of academics, researchers and media professionals who are using on-the-ground evidence to identify the causes of injuries in Gaza.
| "The task of these assessments should have been for the national and international institutions to accomplish." |
"Our aim as professionals was to know more about the new weapons to be able to prevent further deaths and health consequences," Dr. Paola Manduca, a Geneticist at the University of Genoa and New Weapons representative told IslamOnline.net
Born in the third quarter of 2006 after Israel's attack on Lebanon, the Italy-based group has found increasing evidence that a new generation of weapons is being used by Israel that is causing these new types of injuries.
"We've seen that tissues are lacerated and abnormally burnt, and those findings are comparable with that seen in Lebanon in July 2006," concured Dr. Gamal Abdelsalam, Head of the Arab Medical Union based in Cairo, to IslamOnline.net.
The group is working with medical staff both in Lebanon and Gaza to preserve and send back sample remains of the Israeli weapons. These are then taken to study their chemical nature and to understand their future consequences on the survivors of the attack, whether those directly wounded by the weapons or the surrounding population at large.
The group has also been sending technical-medical recommendations to the doctors on-the-ground to help decrease the suffering of their patients, as well as to rescue personnel directing them on how to avoid being affected by those chemicals.
"The task of these assessments should have been for the national and international institutions to accomplish, but nothing has shown that any of them was going to assume the task," said Manduca.
Results
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| Witness holds part of U.S.-made rocket that killed some of his family at the International Citizens Tribunal. (© John Catalinotto, WW photos) |
New Weapons have prepared a report based on their findings showing how Israel has been using new weapons as well as old ones, both considered to be illegal. The report was presented to an International Citizens Tribunal which was held in Brussels, Belgium, on February 22-24, 2008.
According to the report, the strange wounds seen by doctors can be due either to chemical weapons or to metal particles loaded weapons.
"One common finding in those weapons is that they leave no traces visible neither to the naked eyes nor on X ray or CT scan," explained Manduca. Either the chemicals used do not leave a trace after they inflict injury on the victims, or the shrapnel does not remain inside the victim's body. This latter fact alone puts them outside established conventions of war, Manduca says.
The report specifically documents the use of Thermobaric weapons on a civilian structure and in open air.
Thermobaric weapons use a combination of heat and pressure to create a huge wave that effectively sucks the air out of the lungs of the target group present within a certain range of the bomb. It distributes a very fine cloud of explosive material throughout the target area which is then ignited and explodes, creating a vacuum.
Circumstantial evidence of the use of Low Collateral Damage (LCD) weapons such as Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) are also highlighted in the report. DIME technology is designed to minimize damage to property near the attack, by confining its increased lethal effects to people in its immediate vicinity. Extremely small particles shoot from the explosion, creating micro-shrapnel that can slice up tissue and bones. The metal used in the bomb, called HMTA, can also cause cancer later on to survivors.
Incriminated
The International Citizens Tribunal issued a verdict on the human, economic, social, environmental, psychological, and cultural damages done by the Israeli forces on Lebanon in July, 2006. It said that Israel is guilty of international crimes including "war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide."
| "When we began thinking of this tribunal, we couldn't imagine that this number of people will be calling us willing to help." |
"Although we were sure of our legal position, we were surprised at the magnitude of the verdict, we didn't imagine that Israel will be accused of genocide," Leila Ghanem, the general coordinator of the Tribunal told IslamOnline.net.
She stressed the important role lobbying plays to influence public opinion as well as decision makers on this issue.
"When we began thinking of this tribunal, we couldn't imagine that this number of people will be calling us willing to help. It's all about being serious and committed."
"People always blame scientists because they use their minds to develop new weapons. We want them to know that this time scientists are doing exactly the opposite," said Manduca.
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