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Wounds inflicted by the experimental weapons used in strike on the Gaza Strip.
Last update - 09:18 11/10/2006
Italian probe: Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent

An investigative report to be aired on Italian television Wednesday raises the possibility that Israel has used an experimental weapon in the Gaza Strip in recent months, causing especially serious physical injuries, such as amputated limbs and severe burns.

The weapon is similar to one developed by the U.S. military, known as DIME, which causes a powerful and lethal blast, but only within a relatively small radius.

The Italian report is based on the eyewitness accounts of medical doctors in the Strip, as well as tests carried out in an Italian laboratory. The investigative team is the same one that exposed, several months ago, the use by U.S. forces in Iraq of phosphorous bombs, against Iraqi rebels in Faluja.
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Israel Air Force Maj.-Gen (res.) Yitzhak Ben-Israel, formerly head of the IDF's weapons-development program, told the Italian reporters that "one of the ideas [behind the weapon] is to allow those targeted to be hit without causing damage to bystanders or other persons."

The investigation, by Rai24news, follows reports by Gaza-based doctors of inexplicably serious injuries. The doctors reported an exceptionally large number of wounded who lost legs, of completely burned bodies and injuries unaccompanied by metal shrapnel. Some of the doctors also claimed that they removed particles from wounds that could not be seen in an x-ray machine.

According to those who testified, the wounded were hit by munitions launched from drones, most of them in July.

Dr. Habas al-Wahid, head of the emergency room at the Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital, in Deir el-Balah, told the reporters that the legs of the injured were sliced from their bodies "as if a saw was used to cut through the bone." There were signs of heat and burns near the point of the amputation, but no signs that the dismemberment was caused by metal fragments.

Dr. Juma Saka, of Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, said the doctors found small entry wounds on the bodies of the wounded and the dead. According to Saka, a powder was found on the victims' bodies and in their internal organs.

"The powder was like microscopic shrapnel, and these are what likely caused the injuries," Saka said.

The Italian investigative team raised the possibility that the IDF is making use of a weapon similar in character to DIME - Dense Inert Metal Explosive - developed for the U.S. military. According to the official website of a U.S. air force laboratory, it is a "focused lethality" weapon, which aims to accurately destroy the target while causing minimum damage to the surrounding.

According to the site, the projectile comprises a carbon-fiber casing filled with tungsten powder and explosives. In the explosion, tungsten particles - a metal capable of conducting very high temperatures - spread over a radius of four meters and cause death.

According to the U.S.-based website Defense-Tech, "the result is an incredibly destructive blast in a small area" and "the destructive power of the mixture causes far more damage than pure explosive." It adds that "the impact of the micro-shrapnel seems to cause a similar but more powerful effect than a shockwave."

The weapon is supposed to still be in the testing phase and has not been used on the battlefield.

The Italian reporters sent samples of the particles found in wounds of injured in the Gaza Strip to a laboratory at the University of Parma. Dr. Carmela Vaccaio said that in analyzing the samples, she found "a very high concentration of carbon and the presence of unusual materials," such as copper, aluminum and tungsten. Dr. Vaccaio says these findings "could be in line with the hypothesis" that the weapon in question is DIME.

On the matter of DIME, Ben-Israel told the Italian reporters that "this is a technology that allows the striking of very small targets."

The report says that the weapon is not banned by international law, especially since it has not been officially tested.

It is believed that the weapon is highly carcinogenic and harmful to the environment.

The non-governmental organization Physicians for Human Rights has written to Defense Minister Amir Peretz requesting explanations for the aforementioned injuries to Palestinians. Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to the minister, is supposed to meet with the group on the matter in the near future.
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  1.   cool weapon 02:54  |  vik 11/10/06
  2.   highly harmful to the environment. Are the terrorists 03:09  |  Joseph E . 11/10/06
  3.   palestinian guinie pigs? 03:39  |  Billy jack 11/10/06
  4.   Nah, I think it`s about more than that.. 04:59  |  Micha 11/10/06
  5.   Arms...where are my arms 05:44  |  Sean 11/10/06
  6.   Lets hope for many more 05:45  |  Paul Joseph 11/10/06
  7.   I gess to blow bombs in pizzirea are more human 05:54  |  Just cause 11/10/06
  8.   Israel stays on the bleeding edge of weapons technology 06:06  |  Natallie Durson 11/10/06
  9.   To Micha and his ilk 06:11  |  Sean 11/10/06
  10.   pfhumanrights is owed nothing. great weapon. 06:16  |  ralph 11/10/06
  11.   Natalie - it`s exactly the response one expects of YOU 06:28  |  DavidAK 11/10/06
  12.   Sean-- Which makes you what? 06:33  |  Gretch 11/10/06
  13.   Just what the world needs 06:36  |  Karen 11/10/06
  14.   great weapon development. we need offer no explanation. it is 06:50  |  ralph 11/10/06
  15.   Sounds as if its supposed to minimize civilian casualties 06:52  |  Gina 11/10/06
  16.   Israel Haters.Causes less damage than Katyushas and Qassems 06:53  |  PETER SM 11/10/06
  17.   Developing The Brutal Force of Israel 07:02  |  Karim 11/10/06
  18.   New weapon 07:07  |  janice 11/10/06
  19.   Great weapon. What`s the complaint now? 07:14  |  bradl 11/10/06
  20.   European Journalism On The Cutting Wedge! 07:16  |  Yosemite Sam 11/10/06
  21.   cool weapon 07:17  |  Vic 11/10/06
  22.   Self protection? 07:19  |  David 11/10/06
  23.   Cool weapon 07:19  |  Vic 11/10/06
  24.   Re comments made by #5 and #8 07:26  |  The Warrior 11/10/06
  25.   Karen- "on foreign policy" 07:29  |  David 11/10/06
  26.   Dime 07:36  |  zznhl 11/10/06
  27.   Harmful to the Environment? 07:45  |  Efox 11/10/06
  28.   To Gretch #11 07:46  |  Sean 11/10/06
  29.   This weapon is too precise to be useful 07:49  |  Efox 11/10/06
  30.   Suicide Bombers 07:50  |  Ron 11/10/06
  31.   It`s a more HUMANE weapon, guys 08:00  |  David 11/10/06
  32.   deadly weapons in the wrong hands!!! 08:02  |  avni 11/10/06
  33.   Who`s weapon is it? 08:02  |  Johnboy 11/10/06
  34.   Smart weapon 08:04  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 11/10/06
  35.   Karim 08:10  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 11/10/06
  36.   To the warrior 08:23  |  Sean 11/10/06
  37.   UTTER DEPRAVITY! ...A Lost People. 08:54  |  Proud Pal Defender 11/10/06
  38.   EASY WAY OUT 09:03  |  ron 11/10/06
  39.   Sean I have a ? for you. 09:07  |  Eytan 11/10/06
  40.   On Israel`s goats, sheep and pigs 09:10  |  Clickfool 11/10/06
  41.   Probable Israeli War Crimes 09:11  |  Walid 11/10/06
  42.   poor palestenians 09:13  |  tony adams 11/10/06
  43.   # 31 09:20  |  christa 11/10/06
  44.   WHO HAS BEEN INJURED? 09:32  |  Iskander 11/10/06
  45.   There`s nothing like having proof before making accusations 09:43  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 11/10/06
  46.   Shame 09:45  |  gus 11/10/06
  47.   new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip #42 09:46  |  Gerald Zang 11/10/06
  48.   Probable Israeli War Crimes II 09:46  |  Walid 11/10/06
  49.   Avni 09:46  |  Jasmine Murphy 11/10/06
  50.   Christa from France : Protest against your A-test in Polynesia, 09:48  |  Absolute Sweden 11/10/06
  51.   Not very smart 09:50  |  British academic 11/10/06
  52.   Joseph E, Shame on you and on your country. 09:51  |  gus 11/10/06
  53.   Walid, Walid...war crimes? 09:56  |  Hazi 11/10/06
  54.   Great weapon 09:58  |  Avraham 11/10/06
  55.   Walid 10:03  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 11/10/06
  56.   To #40 Clickfool 10:11  |  Yossi 11/10/06
  57.   Reply to Eytan 10:14  |  Sean 11/10/06
  58.   Be very cautios with Rai24news 10:16  |  Paolo Ortenzi 11/10/06
  59.   Avraham, create more Hezbullah 10:29  |  gus 11/10/06
  60.   the wall of padua 10:32  |  daniel deronda 11/10/06
  61.   margie of tel aviv "trevelyan adores me" 10:36  |  g n trevelyan 11/10/06
  62.   To Margie in Tel-Aviv No. 35 - For Peace 10:38  |  Karim 11/10/06
  63.   Margie in Tel Aviv 10:40  |  Walid 11/10/06
  64.   ANOTHER WAR CRIME OF THE TEL AVIV APARTHEID REGIME 10:43  |  Messaoud 11/10/06
  65.   Philistines probably protested when David slung the rock 10:45  |  Theodor 11/10/06
  66.   #19 and all others of the same ilk 10:59  |  Jean 11/10/06
  67.   Better 11:00  |  adrian 11/10/06
  68.   WHERE ARE ALL THE GOD FEARING JEWS 11:08  |  A Dude 11/10/06
  69.   it won`t save israeli lives. 11:10  |  freddy 11/10/06
  70.   to #40 the FOOL 11:12  |  Joe Moer 11/10/06
  71.   Margie in Tel Aviv 11:14  |  Marie 11/10/06