Israel 'is using chemical ammunition' (in Gaza)

[JCMach1]

A doctor at a Palestinian hospital has accused Israel of using a type of chemical ammunition which causes burns and injuries in soft tissue and cannot be traced by X-ray.

Chemical or depleted uranium could have been used in producing the new type of ammunition according to Dr Jomaa Al Saqqa, head of the Emergency Unit at Gaza's main medical facility, the Al Shifa Hospital.

In a telephone interview, Al Saqqa told Gulf News that operation Summer Rain was not just the code name of a military operation launched by Israel against Gaza since June 26.

"It is a live exercise on a new ammunition that, so far, has resulted in killing 50 Palestinians and injuring 200," he said... At the beginning of the Summer Rain operation I noticed that people's wounds looked strange.

I thought it was just because the attack was from a close distance or that the temperature of bullets penetrating the bodies of injured or killed people were so high they were causing burns.

I later found out that all wounds referred to the hospital since the start of the operation were very similar.

"I also noticed 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."

Al Saqqa urged the international health authorities to come to Gaza and check the wounds of people in Al Shifa Hospital... http://gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10052824.html

[DELUSIONAL]

1. What the hell is happening?

There seem to be no International controls over Israel's actions -- perhaps CondiLiar wimping in her silly little voice -- "don't hurt anyone" or some such garbage.

Are they using weapons already used in Iraq in one of the cities that is being "cleared" of "insurgents"?

It almost seems like blackmail is going on -- the leaders of Israel are going to show the Palestinians who is boss - and in normal times perhaps the US or the UK or other Nations would force Israel to halt.

What the hell is happening?? I'm certain that we lowly observers grasp the logic that this war is not about the kidnapping of ONE Israeli private. We are reading scattered reports in the International press (certainly NOT the US media) of the horrors war against civilians in Gaza -- collective punishment -- and we can connect the dots.

What happens if all known Hamas leaders are killed/captured/assassinated?

As in Nature -- politics abhors a vacuum -- and leaders/groups/organizations will take the place of Hamas. Hamas is essentially replacing the PLO -- and Hamas will become a mature/middle aged organization -- bent on survival. The next organization could be far more ruthless.

What happens when Gaza is re-occupied by the Israeli army? What comes next -- AND WHO THE HELL WILL PAY THE BILL??? The American tax payer -- again and again.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. we shall see.

Somehow, I sense more bullshit. Although, anything is possible, I think this is just another frontal assault.

[papau]

3. I smell bullshit. - bullets carrying chemicals that disappear ? - fellow

needs a science course - but he is doing a great job as director of public relations at Al Shifa Hospital.

But I suspect he needs a sit down with a head doctor.

From the recent past: http://www.jerusalemites.org/News%20In%20English/english/2005/april2005/7.htm

Specialists and participants at a workshop in Gaza asserted that the X-Ray screening machine used by the Israeli occupation forces in Rafah border terminal constituted a serious violation to the health of the Palestinian people amounts to a war crime in case the negative effects of this machine were validated.

The workshop, organized by the Woman Medial and Information Center in Gaza, made clear that using this machine is a humiliation to the Palestinians traveling through Rafah terminal and breaches the humanitarian conventions.

Dr. Jomaa Al Saqqa, director of public relations at Al Shifa Hospital, said that the person to be screened is put into a small room and places his feet on a special area on the floor, and X-Ray pictures are taken of him twice, where he's subjected to huge amounts of radiation.

Dr. Al Saqqa pointed out that this issue was very serious, and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Mohammed Dahlan, took a personal interest in it, noting that those who are screened by the machine suffer nausea and severe headaches, but there were no official figures to back this up.

[cali]

4. Fragments that disappear from within the body?

That doesn't make sense. There are tons of reasons to be outraged by the Israeli incursion into Gaza, this doesn't appear to be one of them.

[Recursion]

5. Where do people get these ideas about depleted uranium?

Seriously, people think depleted uranium can sneak into your house and kill your dog or something.

It's heavy. It's heavier than lead or tungsten. So it gets used to make (essentially) a big javelin that can punch a hole through armor. It's not particularly radioactive (that's what the "depleted" means) and it's not any more toxic than, say, the manganese or tungsten that normally gets used in ammunition.

And it definitely doesn't cause burns in soft tissue and then disappear.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. Not toxic? but dangerous nonetheless.....

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3627

DU is both radioactive and toxic.

Past studies of DU in the environment have concluded that neither of these effects poses a significant risk. But some researchers are beginning to suspect that in combination, the two effects could do significant harm. Nobody has taken a hard look at the combined effect of both, says Alexandra Miller, a radiobiologist with the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. "The bottom line is it might contribute to the risk."

She is not alone. The idea that chemical and radiological damage are reinforcing each other is very plausible and gaining momentum, says Carmel Mothersill, head of the Radiation and Environmental Science Centre at the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland. "The regulators don't know how to handle it. So they sweep it under the carpet."

Read "Before the dust settles", the New Scientist editorial on this story here.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3635
The Royal Society highlighted huge gaps in our knowledge about DU, such as the level likely to cause kidney damage, the impact of DU on bone, how much DU can be inhaled in the years following a conflict, and the combined effect of DU's chemical and radiological effects. It even made recommendations for studies to be carried out on soldiers exposed to DU "in any future conflict". Environmental sampling, particularly of water and milk, would need to be done and local people informed of the results.

To reassure the Iraqi people, not to mention their own troops, coalition governments should set this research in motion, or let the WHO and UN Environment Programme carry it out. The UN agencies already have the study designs in place. Failing to support such research can only compound present uncertainties and fuel public suspicion.