[WCUSP] Fwd: Meanwhile Still War-Gaza Doctors Encounter 'Unexplained Injuries'

[Odile Hugonot Haber]

Published on Monday, September 4, 2006 by the Independent / UK
Gaza Doctors Encounter 'Unexplained Injuries'
by Donald Macintyre

Doctors in Gaza are reporting what they say are unexplained injuries
among the dead and wounded in operations by the Israeli military,
which have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the past nine weeks.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering whether there is a
case for an investigation into the injuries amid suspicions by the
medics that the injuries were inflicted by what they claim may have
been unidentified "non-conventional" weapons.

Beside especially severe burning "down to the bones", the doctors say
that, in other cases, internal organs have been ruptured without any
obvious sign of shrapnel wounds.

While a report from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said the
injuries raised the possibility Israel could be using "unprecedented"
projectiles with "radiant" substances, the medics acknowledge that
there is no proof so far of their claims. They also admit that the
difficulty of establishing the exact cause of death is greatly
exacerbated by the reluctance of most bereaved Palestinian families
to allow autopsies.

Dr Juma al Saqqa, the director of public relations at Shifa Hospital,
said the type of injuries presented by some victims were "very
strange" and added: "We think this should be studied. In some cases
we have opened the abdomen and found very fragmented organs." He said
this was despite X-rays showing no shrapnel lodged in the patients'
bodies. He said one, unsubstantiated suggestion by sympathetic
doctors consulted in Italy was that some injuries might have been
caused by phosphorus.

The concerns were aired at the weekend by a group of Palestinian
medics during a visit to Gaza by a delegation from Physicians for
Human Rights - Israel (PHR). The delegation agreed to take away
fragments of tissue from the bodies of Palestinians killed during the
recent military operations in Gaza for possible analysis in Israel
but urged the medics to seek an international investigation.

Dr Ambrogio Manenti, the head of the WHO's West Bank and Gaza office,
said the organisation had undertaken a short preliminary assessment
of the claims and had now referred the issue to the organisation's
headquarters in Geneva so that it can decide whether fuller
investigation was appropriate. The Israel Defence Forces said
yesterday all its "weapons and ammunition are legal under
international law and conform with international standards". It said
it could not respond in greater detail without more information about
the injuries.

A leader of the PHR delegation, Professor Zvi Bentwich, said PHR was
focusing on raising the numbers of patients allowed out of Gaza into
Israel and Egypt for treatment and the relief of equipment and
medicine shortages because of frequent closures of the main Karni
crossing, and external training for Palestinian medical staff.

PHR is pressing the Israeli authorities to reduce the costs of
patients being treated in Israel. Professor Bentwich said the denial
of external specialist treatment to Palestinians was a denial "of the
basic human right to health".

He added that military operations since militants captured the
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June had "exacerbated an already
appalling situation".The army said the attacks were aimed at
releasing Cpl Shalit and halting the firing ofrockets into Israel.

(c) 2006 Independent News and Media Limited

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