More evidence of Israel firing banned phosphorous
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Jan 8, IRNA -- A British daily reported Monday that it had seen more evidence of Israel firing banned white phosphorous around civilian populations in Gaza.
New evidence coincided with an influx of more than 50 burns patients taken into Nasser Hospital in the southern town of Khan Yunis, which hospital director, Youssef Abu Al-Reesh, said was a massive case of exposure to white phosphorus, the Times said.
“I have been working in this hospital for ten years and I have never seen anything like this,” the paper quoted al-Reesh saying about the effects of white phosphorus, which is banned as a weapon of war in civilian areas under the 1980 Geneva treaty.
The Times said that further research carried out by the paper into the type of US-made shells fired by Israeli gunners on the border with Gaza uncovered additional evidence that the light blue munitions, known as M825A1s, were the carriers.
White phosphorus, which explodes into a smokescreen when exposed to oxygen causing skin to melt onto the bone, can be ground-burst or air-burst, covering a larger area to mask large troop movements.
Last week, the Times published a photograph showing lot number PB-91J011-002A clearly visible, indicating that the shells used by Israel were assembled in September 1991 at Pine Bluff arsenal in the US.
The fresh evidence comes despite Israeli denials, insisting that any ammunition used are “within the scope of international law.”
But Munir Albarsh, the Head of Emergency Medicine at Gaza’s Ministry of Health, said that doctors were collecting tissue samples at hospitals across Gaza to send for phosphorus testing at international laboratories.
Human Rights Watch has also said was sure Israel had used white phosphorus “in densely populated areas of Gaza” violating international humanitarian law that required all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
