Israel uses deadly weapon in Gaza

Reports of previously unseen injuries in the wounded and dead in Gaza are surfacing. Bodies have arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured. Others have had burning internal wounds, yet showed only minute pieces of shrapnel externally. Charred and blackened limbs have required amputation, but suddenly healthy tissue begins dying often leading to the person’s death. It is believed that Israel has used an experimental weapon called DIME that is manufactured in the USA. Aside from the horrific injuries it causes, DIME has been shown to be highly carcinogenic and harmful to the environment and the long-term effects are very much unknown. Still in the testing stage, DIME has not yet been officially declared an illegal weapon, but this is all the more reason why it should not be used experimentally, particularly against civilians.

What is DIME?

Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) is considered a precise munition intended to limit collateral damage. According to GlobalSecurity.org, “the warhead explosive fill is a dense inert metal explosive containing fine tungsten particles to provide a ballasted payload with sufficient penetration mass.” The US-based website Defense-Tech says, "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."

Israel denies using DIME

Israel denies using DIME weapons and claims that it is only using weapons in accordance with international law. However, Israel is not known for telling the truth about the weapons it uses against civilians. In its 1982 war on Lebanon, Israel was shown to be lying when journalists proved that Israel had indeed used phosphorous munitions. Again in Lebanon this year, Israel denied and later admitted having used cluster bombs and white phosphorus explosives – a horrific chemical weapon of mass destruction that causes the wounds to burn when exposed to air. Also, inexplicable radiation levels and uranium-235 have been found in soil samples, but Israel has denied using any radioactive uranium explosives. Israel is widely suspected of having a stockpile of chemical weapons, and using such weapons on civilians - particularly experimental ones like DIME – breaches international law and is morally indefensible.

History of Israel’s Chemical Weapons use

In 1948, Zionist forces injected typhoid in the aqueduct of Acre’s water supply causing a typhoid epidemic and opening the way for a “reign of terror” which ended with the collapse of the Palestinian city. Then in 1968, Israelis began using chemical defoliants on Palestinian crops in various farms over a number of years. Nerve gas used around school children has also been documented. In Khan Younis in 2001, Israel used incapacitants – a convulsing poison gas - but even the televised pictures of victims hysterically thrashing around and vomiting incessantly did not spark an international outcry nor did it lead to an investigation and condemnation of Israel. Israel then continued to use the gas in Gaza and also the
West Bank.

International safeguards/monitoring/testing

A team headed by Professor Manduca from the University of Genova, Italy has investigated testimonies, images and material evidence collected by NGOs and fact-finding missions. Tissue samples from patients in Gaza were analysed and found to be compatible with the hypothesis that DIME weapons were used. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is collecting information on the injuries in Gaza, but has not yet come to any conclusion about the weapons used.

Israel’s obligations

Israel has an obligation under Article 147 of the Geneva Convention, not to “willingly cause great suffering or serious injury to the body or health” of civilians. Certainly, Israel should not be using new experimental weapons where civilians are at risk. Their use terrorises the occupied civilian population and is a form of collective punishment which is forbidden by international law. Israel has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention and is not party to the Biological Weapons Convention. It has constantly violated numerous conventions from The Geneva Protocol of 1925 on Poisonous Gas to the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons.