The New Dark Age

23 January, 2009

Reports have suggested that Israel used new Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space that may have been sent from the US via its Lakenheath military base in eastern England.

London, Jan 23, IRNA — Amnesty International is calling on the Israeli regime to disclose all weapons and munitions that were used in its latest slaughter of more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza amid concern that they include new secret US bombs that cause horrific injuries.

‘Doctors tell us they are encountering new and unexplained patterns of injury among some of the Palestinians injured in Israeli military attacks,’ said Donatella Rovera, who is heading an investigation team in Gaza from the UK-based human rights group.

‘Some victims of Israeli air strikes were brought in with charred and sharply severed limbs and doctors treating them need to know what weapons were used,’ Rovera said.

Reports have suggested that Israel used new Dime (dense inert metal explosive) bombs designed to produce an intense explosion in a small space that may have been sent from the US via its Lakenheath military base in eastern England.

The bombs are believed to be packed with tungsten powder, which has the effect of shrapnel but often dissolves in human tissue, making it difficult to discover the cause of injuries.

Amnesty quoted Dr. Subhi Skeik, head of the Surgical Department at al-Shifa Hospital, saying that there had been ‘many cases of amputations and vascular reconstructions.’

‘Patients would be expected to recover in the normal way. But to our surprise many of them died an hour or two after operation. It is dramatic,’ Skeik said.

Rovera said it was ‘vital and urgent that the Israeli authorities disclose all relevant information including what weapons and munitions they used.’

‘More lives must not be lost because doctors do not know what caused their patients’ injuries and what medical complications may occur. They have to be fully informed so that they can provide life-saving care,’ she said.

Amnesty said that it now knew that white phosphorous munitions were used in devastating attacks on built-up civilian areas, but that this was only after previous Israeli denials.

It quoted one burns specialist at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital saying that the burns from the white phosphorus munitions were ‘different from anything we had ever dealt with before,’ The burns ‘became wider and deeper, gave off an offensive odour and then they began to smoke,’ he said.

Amnesty warned that the condition of people with burns caused by white phosphorus can deteriorate rapidly and that ‘even those with burns that cover a relatively small area of the body – 10 to 15 per cent – who would normally survive, can deteriorate and die.’

Only after a number of foreign doctors arrived in the Gaza Strip, days after they had seen the first casualties of white phosphorus, did local doctors learn what had caused the wounds and how to treat them.

‘Israeli officials have repeatedly said that its military operation was against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. There can be no excuse for continuing to withhold information vital to effective treatment of people wounded in Israeli attacks,’ Rovera said.

‘Lack of cooperation by Israel is leading to needless deaths and unnecessary suffering,’ she warned. ‘The Israeli authorities should fulfil their obligation to ensure prompt and adequate care for the wounded by making a full disclosure of the weapons and munitions they used in Gaza and provide any other relevant information that may help medical teams.’

Source: http://www5.irna.ir