by James Brooks December 12, 2006
“Horrific” wounds in Gaza may foreshadow warfare of the future
Its been almost five months since the first report that Israeli drone aircraft have been
dropping a “mystery weapon” on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since then, news media
around the world have run stories depicting the strange and “horrific” wounds inflicted by
the new bomb. The international press has spoken with Palestinian doctors and medics
who say Israels new device is a kind of chemical weapon that has significantly
increased the fatality rate among the victims of Israeli attacks.
In mid-October, Italian investigators reported forensic evidence that suggests the new
weapon may also represent the near future of US “counterinsurgency warfare”.
Combined with photographs of the victims and testimony from attending doctors, this
evidence points to the use of Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME).
DIME is an LCD (“low collateral damage”) weapon developed at the US Air Force
Research Laboratory. Publicly, it is slated for initial deployment in 2008. DIME bombs
produce an unusually powerful blast within a relatively small area, spraying a
superheated “micro-shrapnel” of powdered Heavy Metal Tungsten Alloy (HMTA).
Scientific studies have found that HMTA is chemically toxic, damages the immune
system, rapidly causes cancer, and attacks DNA (genotoxic).
It is unfortunate that the US media have virtually blacked out the story of Israel’s new
weapon, not least because our own military may soon be using it in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The story might also have told us something about the grossly
disproportionate brutality of Israel’s war on the Palestinian people—reason enough for
the media to suppress it.
Thanks to the intrepid Italians, the story could even have introduced Americans to their
government’s DIME weapons program. This article will ask whether Israel is testing US
DIME bombs in the Gaza Strip, and explore the workings, dangers, and projected use of
DIME weapons. DIME’s roots in depleted uranium (DU) research will lead us to consider
DIME in its historical context, as the latest innovation in the US military’s long-running
development of genotoxic weapons.“They cannot return to life again”. The first reports about‘
Israel’s new weapon came from Dr Joma Al-Saqqa, chief of the
emergency unit at Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa. Dr. Al-Saqqa said that Israel was
using “a new chemical weapon” and its siege was “a live exercise on a new ammunition
that, so far, has resulted in killing 50 Palestinians and injuring 200.” He observed that,
“despite the damage in internal soft tissue in the bodies of injured people, the fragments
were not detected by X-ray. In other words, they had disappeared or dissolved inside the
body.”
“There were usually entry and exit wounds,” Dr. Al-Saqqa reported. “When the wounds
were explored no foreign material was found. There was tissue death, the extent of
which was difficult to determine....A higher deep infection rate resulted with subsequent
amputation. In spite of amputation there was a higher mortality.” The effects of the
weapon seemed “radioactive”.
According to Palestine News Network, Dr. Al-Saqqa “confirmed that there were dozens
of wounded legs and arms. Many of them had been burned from the inside, and
distorted to the point that they cannot return to life again.”
“When the shrapnel hit[s] the body, it causes very strong burns that destroy the tissues
around the bones...it burns and destroys internal organs, like the liver, kidneys, and the
spleen and other organs and makes saving the wounded almost impossible. As a
surgeon, I have seen thousands of wounds during the Intifada, but nothing was like this
weapon.”However, Dr. Al-Saqqa could not analyze the chemistry of the bizarre wounds. On the
first day of the siege, June 27, Israel had conveniently destroyed Gaza’s only criminal
laboratory.
Despite his pleas to the “international community” to investigate and lend assistance in
treating the victims, “no one has lifted a finger”, the doctor was quoted in mid-July. “What
we found were journalists who came to take pictures, but as for the medical community,
nothing.” On August 3, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that
Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd had visited Dr. Al-Saqqa’s hospital, “where the
staff is struggling to deal with wounds resulting in an unusually high number of
amputations.” Commissioner AbuZayd commented that “what we saw in Al-Shifa...was
rather horrific.” According to Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International), “75 per cent of war-
wounded patients admitted at one hospital needed amputations” following an Israeli
attack on Gaza City. The World Health Organization was reportedly considering an investigation into the
injuries. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel “agreed to take away fragments of tissue
from the bodies of Palestinians killed during the recent military operations in Gaza for
possible analysis in Israel but urged the medics to seek an international investigation.”
Tungsten in Tissue Samples: A DIME Weapon?
On October 19, Italy’s Rai24news televised an investigative report that supplied crucial
new information. The Italian investigators had tissue samples from the victims in Gaza
analyzed by Dr. Carmela Vaccaio at University Parma. Dr.
Vaccaio reportedly found “a very high concentration of carbon and the presence of unusual materials, such as
copper, aluminum and tungsten.” The doctor concluded that her "findings could be in line
with the hypothesis that the weapon in question is DIME." For complete article go to: http://www.grassrootspeace.org/israel_dime_bombs_121206.pdf
Nb. Original pdf file partially converted into "Rich Text" and edited by Self.
Quote: "A Norwegian doctor in the besieged Gaza Strip has strongly criticized Israel for using cancer-inducing bombs against Palestinian civilians.
Dr. Erik Fosse told Press TV that the majority of patients hospitalized in Gaza are civilians injured in attacks on their homes and about thirty percent of them are children.
Dense Inert Metal Explosive, known as DIME, is an explosive device developed to minimize collateral damage in warfare.
Experts say it has a relatively small but effective blast radius and is believed to have strong biological effects on those who are hit by the bomb’s micro-shrapnel.
Fosse, a department head at a university hospital in Oslo, also says some Palestinians in the besieged enclave have been wounded by a new type of weapon that even doctors with previous experience in war zones do not recognize.
Israel also used depleted-uranium * and white phosphorus shells in the besieged region during their previous assaults.
This comes as Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip for the sixth straight day. The latest Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 32 Palestinians in the besieged territory.
Palestinian sources say Israeli fighter jets have hit nearly 200 targets over the past 24 hours.
At least 167 people have lost their lives and more than 1100 others injured in Gaza since Tuesday when the Israeli attacks began.
People have held a funeral in Gaza for the Palestinians who have been killed in Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave. The participants in the funeral condemned the US support for Israel." Go to: http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/07/norwegian-doctor-dime-dense-inert-metal-explosive-bombs-being-used-in-gaza-2995616.html
* Bold italicised underscore mine Ed!
Quote: "Norwegian surgeon witnesses Israeli war crimes in Gaza
Norwegian professor Mads Frederick Gilbert is utterly shocked as he checks the corpses of martyrs and the bodies of the wounded as they continuously arrive in the Shifa Hospital in Gaza on the seventh day of the bloody Israeli onslaught on the besieged Strip.
Gilbert, 67, a surgeon, murmurs as he walks in the Intensive Care Unit: "This is outrageous, horrific and unbelievable... what's happening is no less than premeditated killing and genocide."
In an interview with Safa News, Gilbert says the Israeli occupation deliberately uses internationally forbidden destructive weapons in its continued onslaught on Gaza.
"Israeli bombs cause injuries that cannot be immediately seen via x-ray," Gilbert said, "After a period of time, the injury starts to bleed."
"The material used in these bombs is uncommon, which explains why we cannot cure the injured parts, and in some cases doctors are forced to amputate them," he says.
Gilbert arrived in Gaza on Thursday via the Rafah border crossing after Israel barred him from entering Gaza via the Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing.
The Norwegian physician has been to Gaza a number of times, the last was during the Israeli offensive in 2012.
An internationally renowned activist and member of the Norwegian socialist party the Red Party, Gilbert specialises in anaesthesia, and heads the Department of Emergency Medicine at the North Norway University Hospital.
"I feel as though I moved from a colourful world, where people enjoy freedom and peace, to the world of Gaza where life, peace and security are simply non-existent," he says while examining all cases that arrive in the hospital
He adds that his visit to Gaza this time is different. "The entire Gaza Strip has become a military target for Israeli warplanes; there is no safe place here. You can hear the air raids everywhere and see fear and anxiety on the faces of all the people and children."
More than 178 Palestinians, including 35 children and 24 women, have been killed by Israeli raids on Gaza since last Monday, July 7.
Gilbert expresses his distress over the volume of bloodletting caused by Israeli airstrikes: "I am very pained by the scenes of the dead and wounded at every corner of the hospital."
The Norwegian professor repeats that Israel "deliberately" targets civilians, "particularly women and children," adding that the majority of the victims are women, children and the elderly.
Gilbert has been subject to an Israeli smear campaign; Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor accused him of spreading lies.
Gilbert responds saying: "Regrettably, the Israeli media machine in Europe portrays the victims as members of Hamas. But we will eventually discover that these are lies and rumours. What crime have women and children committed to be killed and bombed?
"If Israel denies my claims, it should open Gaza for international teams to come and see for themselves and issue reliable medical reports," he said defiantly.
Gilbert is working diligently with other medical teams at the Shifa Hospital to rescue incoming casualties. "Israel is collectively punishing civilians," he stresses.
"The casualties we saw are horrific and abnormal. Most of them are in the head or chest, and there is no room for cosmetic operations because the type of injuries requires amputation," he explains.
Gilbert confirms that the Israeli occupation has breached all international laws and treaties, particularly the Geneva Conventions, through its policies of war and siege, and its usage of internationally banned weapons." Go to: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/12805-norwegian-surgeon-witnesses-israeli-war-crimes-in-gaza
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