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| Just what we needed is a new weapon? |
paraclete |
10/18/06 |
Mysterious wounds point to Israel's use of new weapon
Rory McCarthy in Gaza City
October 19, 2006
DOCTORS in Gaza have reported previously unseen injuries from Israeli weapons that cause severe burning and leave deep internal wounds, often resulting in amputations or death.
The injuries were first seen in July, when Israel attacked Gaza after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier.
"Bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured," said Jumaa Saqa'a, a doctor at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
"We found internal burning of organs, while externally there were minute pieces of shrapnel. When we opened many of the injured people we found dusting on their internal organs."
It is not clear whether the injuries come from a new weapon. The Israeli military denied reports that the injuries came from a Dense Inert Metal Explosive (Dime), an experimental weapon.
In Gaza, Dr Saqa'a said the small pieces of shrapnel found in patients' bodies did not show up under X-ray. "We are used to seeing shrapnel penetrate the body making localised damage. Now we didn't see shrapnel, but we found the destruction," he said.
The doctors also found that patients who were stabilised after one or two days suddenly died. "The patient dies without any apparent scientific cause," Dr Saqa'a said. Photographs of some of the dead from Shifa hospital showed bodies that had been melted and blackened beyond recognition. In several cases doctors amputated badly burnt limbs.
At the Kamal Odwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, the deputy director, Saied Jouda, said he believed patients admitted even in recent days still showed signs of unusual injuries. The health ministry in Gaza reported that these injuries came from an "unprecedented type of projectile" and also noted severe burning and badly damaged internal organs.
Tissue samples from patients in Gaza were given to journalists from the Italian television channel RAI. In a documentary shown last week, the channel said the injuries appeared similar to the effects of Dime.
An Italian laboratory that analysed the samples reportedly said its results were compatible with the hypothesis that a Dime weapon was involved.
The weapon is still in the early stages of development in the US. It has a carbon-fibre casing and contains fine tungsten particles rather than metal shrapnel. It causes a very powerful blast, but with a much more limited radius than other explosives.
The Israeli military denies the use of Dime weapons.
"The defence establishment is investing considerable effort to develop weaponry in order to minimise the risk of injury to innocent civilians. With regard to allegations of the use of Dime weaponry, the Israel Defence Forces deny the possession or use of such weapons," it said.
"In addition it should be emphasised that the IDF only uses weapons in accordance with international law." Some Israeli military experts have also dismissed the suggestion that a Dime weapon is involved.
The Guardian |
Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 10/20/06 5:50 pm:
>>>Israel doesn't have nuclear weapons either, eh?<<<
Sure they do... but they unofficially let the whole world know about their nukes, didn't they. They made sure the Arabs knew that their nukes existed and that they were willing to use them against the Arabs if their survival was imminently threatened.
They haven't done that in this case. Israel has always felt that the best way to put fear into the enemy is to make sure the enemy knows you have such a weapon through unofficial means. Intelligence agencies talk to each other all the time, and getting the message to the Arab world isn't so hard. But Israel HASN'T done that in this case. I'm pretty sure that if they had such a weapon, they would have made its existence know beforehand in order to intimidate the Arabs out of going to war. At the very least, they would have said "no comment" with a 'wink, wink', just as they did about their nukes. The fact that they haven't done so, and have instead flat out denied the existence of such a weapon is the clearest proof of all that such a weapon really does not exist.
So thanks for bringing up another fact that points to the non-existence of such a weapon.
Elliot
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