Gaza City: Doctors in Gaza have reported previously unseen injuries from Israeli weapons that cause severe burning and leave deep internal wounds, often resulting in amputations or death.

The injuries were first seen in July, when Israel launched operations in Gaza following the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants.

Doctors said, unlike traditional combat injuries, there was no large shrapnel found in the bodies and there appeared to be a ``dusting'' on damaged internal organs.

``Bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured,'' said Jumaa Saqa'a, a doctor at the Shifa hospital, in Gaza City. ``We found internal burning of organs, while externally there were minute pieces of shrapnel. When we opened many of the injured people we found dusting on their internal organs.''

It is not clear whether the injuries come from a new weapon. The Israeli military declined to detail the weapons in its arsenal, but denied reports that the injuries came from a Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME), an experimental weapon. In Gaza, Dr. Saqa'a said the small pieces of shrapnel found in patients' bodies did not show up under x-ray. ``We are used to seeing shrapnel penetrate the body making localised damage. Now we didn't see shrapnel, but we found the destruction,'' he said.

Most of the injuries were around the abdomen, he said. The doctors also found that patients who were stabilised after one or two days suddenly died. ``The patient dies without any apparent scientific cause,'' he said.

New weapons

At the Kamal Odwan hospital, in Beit Lahiya, the deputy director, Saied Jouda, said he had found similar injuries. ``We don't know what it means — new weapons or something new added to a previous weapon,'' he said. He too found patients with severe internal injuries without signs of any large shrapnel pieces. ``There was burning, big raw areas of charred flesh,'' he said. ``This must be related to the type of explosive material.''

At least 250 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the latest military operations began and hundreds more have been injured.

Neither of the doctors could give exact figures for the number of patients suffering the new injuries, though both said most of those brought in during July showed signs of these injuries.

Dr. Saqa'a said the injuries occurred over six weeks beginning in late June, while Dr. Jouda said he believed patients admitted even in recent days still showed signs of unusual injuries.

The Health Ministry in Gaza reported that these injuries came from an ``unprecedented type of projectile,'' and also noted severe burning and badly damaged internal organs. It called for an investigation into the cause of the wounds.

``You have complete burns that lead to amputation. You find shrapnel entering the body and leaving very, very small holes. We have never seen this before,'' said the Health Ministry.

Tissue samples from patients in Gaza were given to journalists from the Italian television channel RAI. The channel said the injuries appeared similar to the effects of DIME. An Italian laboratory that analysed the samplesreportedly said its results were compatible with the hypothesis that a DIME weapon was involved.

The weapon is new and in the U.S. it is still in the early stages of development. It has a carbon-fibre casing and contains fine tungsten particles rather than ordinary metal shrapnel. It causes a very powerful blast, but with a much more limited radius than other explosives.

However, the Israeli military denies the use of DIME weapons. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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