Is Israel Using Cluster Munitions On Urban Areas? [View All]

[DogPoundPup]

http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2009/01/is-israel-using-cluster-munitions-on-urban-areas.html


http://www.newshoggers.com/.a/6a00d8345f80b469e2010536a85b5f970b-pi
The image above is captioned.in the London Times, as "Israeli artillery shells explode with a chemical agent designed to create smokescreen for ground forces." But last night the same picture was simply captioned as an artillery shell exploding over Gaza and other similiar images at AFP/Getty are similiarly captioned. One wonders why Murdoch's flagship newspaper decided to change the caption.

In two of those AFP/Getty images, here and here, you can clearly see impact explosions and fires begun by those impacts. Those are not chemical smoke shells. An ex-military officer friend tells me that the shells seen exploding in all these pictures are DPICM or Cluster Munition rounds. Identical cluster munitions were used in Lebanon by the IDF during the 2006 conflict and by both the UK and US during the invasion of Iraq. It's likely that the IDF are using US-made M483A1 DPICM artillery-delivered shells.

At the end of May, 111 nations including most NATO allies signed a treaty banning their stockpiling and use. neither the US nor Israel agreed to become signators. Although cluster bombs are not explicitly forbidden by the Geneva Law, the rules of war prohibit the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons or weapons that are incapable of being used in a manner that complies with the obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants. Those who use them in civilian areas therefore open themselves to charges of war crimes.


The impact of such indiscriminate tactics is immediate:

Eric Fosse, a Norwegian doctor there, said Hamas fighters were a small minority of the casualties brought in.

"This hospital has been filled up with patients," he added. This morning they bombed the fruit market. There were a large number of casualties.

"We became like a field hospital. There were two patients at a time in the operating rooms and we were operating on other people in the corridors. Some were dying before we could get to them."

Moawya Hasanian, the head of al-Shifa's emergency and ambulance department, said the hospital had taken in 33 dead and 137 wounded by lunchtime on Sunday.

Among those killed was an paramedic after his ambulance was hit by Israeli fire. Three of his colleagues were wounded.

"Only three of the dead are from Hamas, the rest are civilians," Hasanian said. "There are many children under 18. There are many in critical condition. We are working under pressure. It's not easy to work with bombs and air strikes everywhere. It's not easy for ambulances to move."

Read more: http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2009/01/is-israel-using-cluster-munitions-on-urban-areas.html