UPDATE CONFIRMS PHOSPHORUS USE
The pale blue 155mm rounds, marked with the designation M825A1, are US-made white phosphorus munitions.

Gaza Victims' Burns Increase Concern Over Phosphorus

By Michael Evans and Sheera Frenkel

January 09, 2009 "The Times Online" -- JERUSALEM - Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces.

There is also evidence that the rounds have injured Palestinian civilians, causing severe burns. The use of white phosphorus against civilians is prohibited under international law.

The Times has identified stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells from high-resolution images taken of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza border this week. The pale blue 155mm rounds are clearly marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made WP munition. The shell is an improved version with a more limited dispersion of the phosphorus, which ignites on contact with oxygen, and is being used by the Israeli gunners to create a smoke screen on the ground.

The rounds, which explode into a shower of burning white streaks, were first identified by The Times at the weekend when they were fired over Gaza at the start of Israel's ground offensive. Artillery experts said that the Israeli troops would be in trouble if they were banned from using WP because it is the simplest way of creating smoke to protect them from enemy fire.

There were indications last night that Palestinian civilians have been injured by the bombs, which burn intensely. Hassan Khalass, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, told The Times that he had been dealing with patients who he suspected had been burnt by white phosphorus. Muhammad Azayzeh, 28, an emergency medical technician in the city, said: "The burns are very unusual. They don't look like burns we have normally seen. They are third-level burns that we can't seem to control."

Victims with embedded WP particles in their flesh have to have the affected areas flushed with water. Particles that cannot be removed with tweezers are covered with a saline-soaked dressing.

Nafez Abu Shaban, the head of the burns unit at al-Shifa hospital, said: "I am not familiar with phosphorus but many of the patients wounded in the past weeks have strange burns. They are very deep and not like burns we used to see."

When The Times reported on Monday that the Israeli troops appeared to be firing WP shells to create a thick smoke camouflage for units advancing into Gaza, an IDF spokesman denied the use of phosphorus and said that Israel was using only the weapons that were allowed under international law.

Rows of the pale blue M825A1 WP shells were photographed on January 4 on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border. Another picture showed the same munitions stacked up behind an Israeli self-propelled howitzer.

Confronted with the latest evidence, an IDF spokeswoman insisted that the M825A1 shell was not a WP type. "This is what we call a quiet shell - it is empty, it has no explosives and no white phosphorus. There is nothing inside it," she said.

"We shoot it to mark the target before we launch a real shell. We launch two or three of the quiet shells which are empty so that the real shells will be accurate. It's not for killing people," she said.

Asked what shell was being used to create the smokescreen effect seen so clearly on television images, she said: "We're using what other armies use and we're not using any weapons that are banned under international law."

Neil Gibson, technical adviser to Jane's Missiles and Rockets, insisted that the M825A1 was a WP round. "The M825A1 is an improved model. The WP does not fill the shell but is impregnated into 116 felt wedges which, once dispersed [by a high-explosive charge], start to burn within four to five seconds. They then burn for five to ten minutes. The smoke screen produced is extremely effective," he said.

The shell is not defined as an incendiary weapon by the Third Protocol to the Convention on Conventional Weapons because its principal use is to produce smoke to protect troops. However, Marc Galasco, of Human Rights Watch, said: "Recognising the significant incidental incendiary effect that white phosphorus creates, there is great concern that Israel is failing to take all feasible steps to avoid civilian loss of life and property by using WP in densely populated urban areas. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting WP projectiles at relatively low levels, seemingly to maximise its incendiary effect."

He added, however, that Human Rights Watch had no evidence that Israel was using incendiaries as weapons.

British and American artillery units have stocks of white phosphorus munitions but they are banned as anti-personnel weapons. "These munitions are not unlawful as their purpose is to provide obscuration and not cause injury by burning," a Ministry of Defence source said.

Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian war surgery specialist working in Gaza, told The Times that he had seen injuries believed to have resulted from Israel's use of a new "dense inert metal explosive" that caused "extreme explosions". He said: "Those inside the perimeter of this weapon's power zone will be torn completely apart. We have seen numerous amputations that we suspect have been caused by this."

Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.
 
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CLUSTER BOMBS, DEPLETED URANIUM AND WHITE PHOSPHORUS BEING USED IN GAZA

Laila El-Haddad | 04.01.2009 22:16

Residents in Gaza have been talking about an unprecedented amount of force being unleashed against them by the Israeli army- but they have also spoken about new kinds of weaponry. It comes as no surprise-Gaza has always been Israel's "testing ground" - from nerve agents used in Khan Younis in 2003 to Sonic Boom "phantom air raids". Now, there is talk of cluster bombs, depleted uranium, and white phosphorus.

And these are only the ones people can identify.

CNN corespondents stationed near the borders have also been talking about new kinds of explosions. Norwegian medics say that some of the victims who have been wounded since Israel began its attacks on the Gaza Stripon December 27 have traces of depleted uranium in their bodies, according to Press TV.

There are also reports that the Israeli Army is using both cluster bombs in the northern part of the Strip, as well as White Phosphorus, an incendiary weapon used by the United States in Iraq (which would explain the large flare-like explosions unseen before in Gaza).

(small photo above is of gas canisters)

U.S. Weaponry Facilitates Killings in Gaza



By Thalif Deen

January 09, 2009 "IPS" -- Israel's two-week military onslaught has resulted in the deaths of over 700 people, including more than 300 civilians, mostly victims of U.S. weaponry.

The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during two weeks of fighting, is the product of advanced U.S. military technology.

The U.S. weapons systems used by the Israelis -- including F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles and a wide array of munitions -- have been provided by Washington mostly as outright military grants.

The administration of President George W. Bush alone has provided over 21 billion dollars in U.S. security assistance over the last eight years, including 19 billion dollars in direct military aid as freebies.

"Israel's intervention in the Gaza Strip has been fueled largely by U.S. supplied weapons paid for with U.S. tax dollars," says a background briefing released Thursday by the Arms and Security Initiative of the New York-based New America Foundation.

"The Bush administration has been unwilling to use its considerable influence -- as Israel's major military and political backer -- to dissuade the government in Tel Aviv from its pattern of claiming self-defence while perpetrating collective punishment, human rights violations and undertaking massively disproportionate attacks that harm and kill civilians," Frida Berrigan, senior programme associate at the New America Foundation, told IPS.

Besides military aid, the United States has contracted more than 22 billion dollars in arms sales to Israel in 2008 alone, including a proposed deal for 75 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, nine C-130J-30 military transport aircraft and four combat ships.

"So, when Israeli forces engage in combat in Gaza or the West Bank, they are more often than not using U.S.-designed systems that were either made in the United States or produced under licence in Israel," says the New America Foundation.

The two-week military onslaught has resulted in the deaths of over 700 Palestinians, including more than 300 civilians, mostly victims of U.S. weaponry.

In comparison, the Israeli death toll is about seven soldiers and four civilians, primarily due to "friendly fire", or victims of rocket attacks by Hamas.

Mouin Rabbani, contributing editor at the Washington-based Middle East Report, says the intimacy of the U.S.-Israeli military relationship, and the frequency with which Israel launches wars, means that the Israeli military also performs the function of testing newly-developed weapons systems in actual warfare, which is of value to both Israel and the United States.

"Twice over, in fact, because less effective versions of these same weapons systems are subsequently sold at hugely inflated prices to Arab states, which effectively subsidises the U.S. weapons industry and U.S. military grants to Israel," he told IPS.

Tracing historical links, Rabbani said Israel replaced South Vietnam as the primary recipient of U.S. foreign military aid in the 1970s and has maintained that status ever since.

With consistently fewer exceptions over the years, he pointed out, Israel has the run of the U.S. arsenal, particularly with regard to obtaining new and advanced weapons that are not sold (or, as in the present case, given) to non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies.

He said that Israel is also permitted to participate in various U.S. weapons development programmes, meaning that in addition to weapons deliveries it benefits enormously from the transfer of military technologies.

"Israel also has access to various U.S. intelligence programmes and data, and the list goes on for quite some length," Rabbani added.

Last week, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat of Ohio) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointing out that Israel's use of U.S. weapons in Gaza may constitute a violation of the requirements of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) of 1976.

The AECA outlines the conditions under which countries may use U.S. weapons systems, primarily for "internal security" or "legitimate self defence".

The letter says that Israeli forces have used U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter planes and Apache helicopters "to precede and to support ongoing ground actions such as the one in which 40 Palestinians were killed while taking shelter in a U.N. facility."

"Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable," he added.

Credit:Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Israel continues to target Palestinian medics in Gaza + INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MEMBERS, their Blogs.

(Gaza, January 7, 2009) A Palestinian medic, traveling with two international ISM activists, has been shot by Israeli forces in Jabaliya, northern Gaza.

Red Crescent medic, Hassan al-Attal, was shot through the thigh while collecting a civilian killed by Israeli fire from Zemmo, east of Jabaliya refugee camp.

Canadian and Spanish ISM activists were present as it happened; "It was very clear that we were a medical team. Yet as two of our team, wearing bright red medic uniforms, went to pick up the body, they were fired upon 13 times by an Israeli sniper." - Eva Bartlett

(Canada) International Solidarity Movement.

"The Israeli's fired at the ambulance hitting it once. At least six medics have already been murdered while fulfilling there duties. How are the medics supposed to work? For every ten attempts the Red Crescent make to co-ordinate their humanitarian missions with the Israelis, only two are allowed. This means that the Israelis are refusing to allow 80 percent of medical missions to operate with any form of safety." Alberto Arce (Spain) - International Solidarity Movement At least six Palestinian medical personnel have been killed by Israeli attacks in the eight past days.

International Solidarity Movement activists are accompanying ambulances through out the Gaza strip. They are working with medical personnel during the Israeli Occupation Forces' ground invasion into the Gaza strip.

On December 31st, medic Mohammed Abu Hassera was killed on the spot as his ambulance was shelled while trying to access the wounded. Dr Ihab Al Mathoon, who was also on the ambulance, died in hospital a few hours later. On the 4th January, Yaser Shbeir, Raf'at Al-A'kluk, Arafa Hani 'Abdul Dayem and Anes Fadel Na'im were killed when Israeli shells targeted the ambulances they worked in.

For the footage taken by Spanish Human Rights Activist Alberto Arce, given to Ramatan News Agency inside Gaza: eutelsatw6. downlink

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4 (satellite co-ordinates)

Human Rights Activists in Gaza:

Ewa Jasiewicz - Poland/Britain

Alberto Arce - Spain

Dr. Haider Eid - South Africa

Sharon Lock - Australia

Fida Qishta - Palestine

Jenny Linnel - Britain

Natalie Abu Shakra - Lebanon

Vittorio Arrigoni - Italy

Eva Bartlett - Canada

For blogs from inside Gaza see:

www.ingaza.wordpress.com

www.talestotell.wordpress.com

www.palsolidarity.org

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