On Saturday, Israel struck a crowded area previously designated a "safe zone" in Gaza, killing at least 90 people and injuring about 300:
www.france24.com
In an earlier article, doctors and other experts were also cited talking about the severe injuries, amputations, and maiming resulting from Israel's usage of shrapnel-packed weapons near refugee camps, tents, and civilian-populated areas in strikes on Gaza:
An American military technician also explained the impact of the shrapnel-laden weapons when used in civilian areas:
www.theguardian.com
It is beyond an affront to human decency that there is still support for the atrocities, such as the above and others, that the IDF has committed and is committing in Gaza.
What will major Western powers do—primarily the US? Will they keep being silent or actively supportive of the IDF's actions militarily, geopolitically, and financially, or will they finally try to live up to even a semblance of what they claim are their values of "human rights" and "freedom"?
Israel said it targeted Hamas’ shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people including children, according to local health officials. Hamas immediately rejected the claim that Mohammed Deif was in the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists “there still isn’t absolute certainty” that Deif and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were killed. The strike took place in an area the military had designated as safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported 90 dead and said at least 300 others were injured in the attack — one of the war's deadliest. Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies at overwhelmed Nasser Hospital nearby. Witnesses described an attack that included several strikes.
Air strike on Gaza 'safe zone' kills at least 90; Israel says it targeted Hamas chief Deif
An Israeli air strike that hit the densely populated Al-Mawasi area previously designated as a humanitarian safe zone near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Saturday killed at least 90 people…
In an earlier article, doctors and other experts were also cited talking about the severe injuries, amputations, and maiming resulting from Israel's usage of shrapnel-packed weapons near refugee camps, tents, and civilian-populated areas in strikes on Gaza:
Israeli-made weapons designed to spray high levels of shrapnel are causing horrific injuries to civilians in Gaza and disproportionately harming children, foreign surgeons who worked in the territory in recent months have told the Guardian.
The doctors say many of the deaths, amputations and life changing wounds to children they have treated came from the firing of missiles and shells – in areas crowded with civilians – packed with additional metal designed to fragment into tiny pieces of shrapnel.
Volunteer doctors at two Gaza hospitals said that a majority of their operations were on children hit by small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body. Amnesty International has said that the weapons appear designed to maximise casualties.
Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon from California, worked at the European hospital in southern Gaza in April.
“About half of the injuries I took care of were in young kids. We saw a lot of so-called splinter injuries that were very, very small to the point that you easily missed them while examining a patient. Much, much smaller than anything I’ve seen before but they caused tremendous damage on the inside,” he said.
Weapons experts said the shrapnel and wounds are consistent with Israeli-made weapons designed to create large numbers of casualties unlike more conventional weapons used to destroy buildings. The experts question why they are being fired into areas packed with civilians.
An American military technician also explained the impact of the shrapnel-laden weapons when used in civilian areas:
Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the explosive sprays out tungsten cubes and ball bearings that are far more lethal than the blast itself.
“These balls and cubes are the main fragmentation effect from these munitions, with the munition casing providing a much smaller portion of the fragmentation effect. Most traditional artillery rounds and bombs rely on the munition casing itself rather than added fragmentation liners,” he said.
Ball said the metal cubes recovered by Adusumilli are typically found in Israeli-made weapons such as certain types of Spike missiles fired from drones. He said the doctors’ accounts of tiny entry wounds are also consistent with glide bombs and tank rounds fitted with fragmentation sleeves such as the M329 APAM shell, which is designed to penetrate buildings, and the M339 round which its manufacturer, Elbit Systems of Haifa, describes as “highly lethal against dismounted infantry”.
Some of the weapons are designed to penetrate buildings and kill everyone within the walls. But when they are dropped onto streets or among tents, there is no such containment.
“The issue comes with how these small munitions are being employed,” said Ball. “Even a relatively small munition employed in a crowded space, especially a space with little to no protection against fragmentation, such as a refugee camp with tents, can lead to significant deaths and injuries.”
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Israeli weapons packed with shrapnel causing devastating injuries to children in Gaza, doctors say
Surgeons who worked in European and al-Aqsa hospitals describe extensive wounds caused by ‘fragmentation’ shrapnel experts say is designed to maximize casualties
It is beyond an affront to human decency that there is still support for the atrocities, such as the above and others, that the IDF has committed and is committing in Gaza.
What will major Western powers do—primarily the US? Will they keep being silent or actively supportive of the IDF's actions militarily, geopolitically, and financially, or will they finally try to live up to even a semblance of what they claim are their values of "human rights" and "freedom"?