Israel using chemical weapon claims Palestinian Doctor

The curiously named IDF operation "Summer Rain" was not just the code name of a military operation launched by Israel against Gaza since June 26. In a report from Gulf News in Dubai Dr Jomaa Al Saqqa, head of the Emergency Unit at Gaza's main medical facility, the Al Shifa Hospital accuses Israel of using a type of chemical ammunition which causes burns and injuries in soft tissue and cannot be traced by X-ray.

"It is a live exercise on a new ammunition that, so far, has resulted in killing 50 Palestinians and injuring 200," said Dr Saqqa.

Working at Al Shifa for 10 years he claims he has not seen wounds like these before, and thought at first it was just because the attack was from a close distance or that the temperature of bullets penetrating the bodies of injured or killed people were so high they were causing burns.

He said he was not yet sure about the kind of chemical being used because the Israeli Army had bombed the only criminal laboratory in Gaza on the first day of the assault.

Dr Saqqa who has been working in the Al Shifa Hospital for almost 10 years said he had never seen such wounds before.

"I thought it was just because the attack was from a close distance or that the temperature of bullets penetrating the bodies of injured or killed people were so high they were causing burns."I also noticed that despite the damage in internal soft tissue in the bodies of injured people, the fragments were not detected by X-ray. In other words, they had disappeared or dissolved inside the body."

Al Saqqa urged the international health authorities to come to Gaza and check the wounds of people in Al Shifa Hospital.

"The situation is very bad because out of the 200 injuries there are 50 children who are suffering badly because of their internal wounds caused by the new kind of ammunition," he said.

When Gulf news asked the IDF for a comment nobody was available.

This report is not corroborated, Lord Patel will report on any further credible developments.