Tracking Down Gaza War's Deadly, Mysterious Cubes (Wired)

[kpete]

Tracking Down Gaza War's Deadly, Mysterious Cubes
By David Hambling EmailFebruary 24, 2009 | 11:21:49 AMCategories: Ammo and Munitions, Missiles, Sabras



An unidentified weapon packed with strange "cube shaped shrapnel" killed or wounded civilians in the recent Gaza war, according to a new report from Amnesty International.

Amnesty's report on weapons used by both sides in Gaza finds much to condemn. The group is particularly hard on the U.S., having found numerous remains of American munitions -- including white phosphorus shells from Pine Bluff Arsenal, and a Hellfire missile made in Orlando. Another weapon which bothers Amnesty is a mysterious munition, filled with cubic particles.

"Amnesty International delegates in Gaza also found evidence of the use of a new type of missile, seemingly launched from unmanned drones, which explodes large numbers of tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2 and 4 mm square in size. This purpose-made shrapnel can penetrate even thick metal doors and many were seen by Amnesty International’s delegates embedded deep in concrete walls. They appear designed to cause maximum injury…

The signature of these new missiles, in addition to the deadly tiny metal cubes, is a small and deep hole in the ground (about 10 cm or less in diameter and up to several meters in depth)

While it's impossible to say for certain, we can make a very educated guess that where the shrapnel came from -– and also evaluate the claim about maximum injury.

One likely candidate is the Spike missile, made by the Israeli company Rafael (not to be confused with the U.S. Navy's Spike missile we featured previously) . Originally designed as an anti-tank missile, it is comes in several versions -- including a man-portable one and a vehicle-mounted version. It has also been shown fitted to the Israeli Heron drone. A naval version is featured in this video, being used against targets in Gaza.

more:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/gazas-deadly-cu.html

[McCamy Taylor]

1. They used "anti-tank" missiles (fitted out with fragmentation sleeves for max. human casualties)

in civilian areas to counter exactly what tanks? I must have missed the tanks that Israel was fighting against. Funny that we never saw those documented anywhere. Who could have guessed that Hamas had invisible tanks . Where did they hide them? Up their butts?

Man, the amount of human killing arsenal that someone tossed into a civilian area is just astounding. They really were going for maximum possible indiscriminate kill. There is a word for that but some folks at DU will get upset if I use it in this context, so let's just say that maybe the UN needs to think about war crimes.