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by Donald Macintyre in Beit Lahiya, Gaza
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 4:58 PM
Mr Garlasco [HRW's military analyst and former Pentagon battle damage expert] produced a four to five-inch, mainly blackened shell fragment which he collected about 100 yards from the scene of the explosion and in which the figures 55 and the letters "mm" are clearly discernible...Israel has dismissed continuing calls for an independent international inquiry into the beachfront explosion... Mr Garlasco who accompanied a small group of journalists to the Beit Lahia beach, pointed to three separate craters, each covered in a whitish powder, which he said were fresh, one of which was at the spot where witnesses agree the fatal blast occurred, and the two others separated it from it by about 120 and 250 yards. Mr Garlasco added: "It would be a really ridiculous coincidence if there is active shelling and then suddenly an IED [improvised explosive device] goes off."
Revealed: the shrapnel evidence that points to Israel's guilt
By Donald Macintyre in Beit Lahiya, Gaza
Published: 14 June 2006
Israel has dismissed continuing calls for an independent international inquiry into the beachfront explosion which killed seven members of a Palestinian family in Gaza last Friday after its own internal military investigation decided it was not responsible for the blast.
As the military investigation team insisted that artillery fire had stopped by the time the explosion occurred and suggested it had been caused by a bomb planted in the sand, Amir Peretz, the Defence Minister, declared: " The accumulating evidence proves that this incident was not due to Israeli forces."
But the official interpretation was strongly challenged by a former Pentagon battle damage expert who has surveyed the scene of the beach explosion. He said yesterday that "all the evidence points" to a 155mm Israeli land-based artillery shell as its cause.
Marc Garlasco, who worked in war zones including Iraq and Kosovo during his seven-year stint in the US Department of Defence, called for an independent investigation into the killings after concluding that shell fragments and shrapnel from the site, the size and distribution of the craters on the beach, and the type of injuries sustained by the victims made Israeli shelling easily the likeliest cause.
His assessment came as at least another seven civilians, including two children, as well as two Islamic Jihad militants, were killed in a double Israeli missile strike on a VW van in the densely populated Zeitoun district of Gaza City yesterday. The two children were hit at a nearby house by flying shrapnel and the civilian dead included three medical workers from a nearby children's hospital who rushed to help after hearing the first explosion.
Israel said the militants had been on their way to launch Katyusha rockets which have a much longer range than the Qassam rockets normally fired from Gaza into Israel. One of the two dead Islamic Jihad militants was Hamoud Wadiya, described as the top rocket launcher in the faction. Mr Peretz said before the strike that Israel was resuming operations "to protect the citizens of Israel" after a pause caused by what he had acknowledged had been "the international storm" over the civilian deaths at the Beit Lahia beach last Friday.
The debate over the beach explosion is unlikely to die down however. Mr Garlasco who is now the senior military analyst for Human Rights Watch, said yesterday: "Of course I can't be completely conclusive but all the evidence points to its being a 155mm Israeli shell which killed the Palestinians on the beach."
Mr Garlasco said that most of the serious injuries of the victims in the Gaza hospitals that he had visited were to the torsos and heads, which were inconsistent with a land mine or of a bomb embedded in the sand. "If this had been a landmine I would have expected to see serious leg injuries," he said. Mr Garlasco said that while he could not rule out the theoretical possibility that Palestinian militants had rigged up an unexploded 155mm shell to make an explosive device of their own, that too would have normally produced many more severe leg injuries.
Mr Garlasco produced a four to five-inch, mainly blackened shell fragment which he collected about 100 yards from the scene of the explosion and in which the figures 55 and the letters "mm" are clearly discernible. While acknowledging that this was not itself definite proof that the shell had killed the Palestinians he said some fragments and shrapnel which the Palestinian police explosives department say they took from the scene where the victims were killed were definitely from a 155mm shell.
Mr Garlasco who accompanied a small group of journalists to the Beit Lahia beach, pointed to three separate craters, each covered in a whitish powder, which he said were fresh, one of which was at the spot where witnesses agree the fatal blast occurred, and the two others separated it from it by about 120 and 250 yards. Mr Garlasco added: "It would be a really ridiculous coincidence if there is active shelling and then suddenly an IED [improvised explosive device] goes off."
The military have admitted firing earlier in the area but now say that the explosion occurred between 4.47 and 5.10pm, when it says firing had stopped. An ambulance driver from the nearby al-Awda hospital, Khaled Abu Sada, said that he first took a call about the emergency at 4.50pm.
The military did not explicitly repeat claims in earlier leaks that Hamas had planted the device or say whether it was a dud shell. It says that shrapnel taken from the bodies of victims being treated in Israeli hospitals was not from a 150mm shell. But Mr Garlasco said that copper-lined shrapnel taken from two injured girls who had been in a car at the time of the blast and from the car itself were consistent with such a shell fired by a M109 howitzer.
Mr Garlasco ruled out the possibility that the shells were naval, as originally thought, on the grounds that they were too large to be fired from Israeli navy coastal vessels.
Israel has dismissed continuing calls for an independent international inquiry into the beachfront explosion which killed seven members of a Palestinian family in Gaza last Friday after its own internal military investigation decided it was not responsible for the blast.
As the military investigation team insisted that artillery fire had stopped by the time the explosion occurred and suggested it had been caused by a bomb planted in the sand, Amir Peretz, the Defence Minister, declared: " The accumulating evidence proves that this incident was not due to Israeli forces."
But the official interpretation was strongly challenged by a former Pentagon battle damage expert who has surveyed the scene of the beach explosion. He said yesterday that "all the evidence points" to a 155mm Israeli land-based artillery shell as its cause.
Marc Garlasco, who worked in war zones including Iraq and Kosovo during his seven-year stint in the US Department of Defence, called for an independent investigation into the killings after concluding that shell fragments and shrapnel from the site, the size and distribution of the craters on the beach, and the type of injuries sustained by the victims made Israeli shelling easily the likeliest cause.
His assessment came as at least another seven civilians, including two children, as well as two Islamic Jihad militants, were killed in a double Israeli missile strike on a VW van in the densely populated Zeitoun district of Gaza City yesterday. The two children were hit at a nearby house by flying shrapnel and the civilian dead included three medical workers from a nearby children's hospital who rushed to help after hearing the first explosion.
Israel said the militants had been on their way to launch Katyusha rockets which have a much longer range than the Qassam rockets normally fired from Gaza into Israel. One of the two dead Islamic Jihad militants was Hamoud Wadiya, described as the top rocket launcher in the faction. Mr Peretz said before the strike that Israel was resuming operations "to protect the citizens of Israel" after a pause caused by what he had acknowledged had been "the international storm" over the civilian deaths at the Beit Lahia beach last Friday.
The debate over the beach explosion is unlikely to die down however. Mr Garlasco who is now the senior military analyst for Human Rights Watch, said yesterday: "Of course I can't be completely conclusive but all the evidence points to its being a 155mm Israeli shell which killed the Palestinians on the beach."
Mr Garlasco said that most of the serious injuries of the victims in the Gaza hospitals that he had visited were to the torsos and heads, which were inconsistent with a land mine or of a bomb embedded in the sand. "If this had been a landmine I would have expected to see serious leg injuries," he said. Mr Garlasco said that while he could not rule out the theoretical possibility that Palestinian militants had rigged up an unexploded 155mm shell to make an explosive device of their own, that too would have normally produced many more severe leg injuries.
Mr Garlasco produced a four to five-inch, mainly blackened shell fragment which he collected about 100 yards from the scene of the explosion and in which the figures 55 and the letters "mm" are clearly discernible. While acknowledging that this was not itself definite proof that the shell had killed the Palestinians he said some fragments and shrapnel which the Palestinian police explosives department say they took from the scene where the victims were killed were definitely from a 155mm shell.
Mr Garlasco who accompanied a small group of journalists to the Beit Lahia beach, pointed to three separate craters, each covered in a whitish powder, which he said were fresh, one of which was at the spot where witnesses agree the fatal blast occurred, and the two others separated it from it by about 120 and 250 yards. Mr Garlasco added: "It would be a really ridiculous coincidence if there is active shelling and then suddenly an IED [improvised explosive device] goes off."
The military have admitted firing earlier in the area but now say that the explosion occurred between 4.47 and 5.10pm, when it says firing had stopped. An ambulance driver from the nearby al-Awda hospital, Khaled Abu Sada, said that he first took a call about the emergency at 4.50pm.
The military did not explicitly repeat claims in earlier leaks that Hamas had planted the device or say whether it was a dud shell. It says that shrapnel taken from the bodies of victims being treated in Israeli hospitals was not from a 150mm shell. But Mr Garlasco said that copper-lined shrapnel taken from two injured girls who had been in a car at the time of the blast and from the car itself were consistent with such a shell fired by a M109 howitzer.
Mr Garlasco ruled out the possibility that the shells were naval, as originally thought, on the grounds that they were too large to be fired from Israeli navy coastal vessels.
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article994070.ece
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LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 134 posted about this article.
These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
TITLE |
AUTHOR |
DATE |
Israel changes tack on beach deaths |
AlJazeera.net |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 5:01 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
read his crap closely |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 5:11 PM |
"I really trust that the Palestinian police actually gave him shrapnel foundat the sc |
typical Zionist bullsh*t |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 5:12 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Pallywood |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 5:27 PM |
Incidentally |
Scapegoated Jew |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 5:33 PM |
But it couldn't have been a Zionist shell that killed those kids. |
Lunchbox |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 6:03 PM |
G-d's chosen ones |
G-d's chosen ones |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 6:18 PM |
blood libel |
charismatic megafauna |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 6:22 PM |
Chosen to lead the way |
Chosen |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 6:36 PM |
oh look |
gehrig |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 6:43 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Same spammer |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 7:04 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
More info re: topic |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 7:43 PM |
Who benefits |
cui bono? |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 7:52 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
when anti-zionists are caught- |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 7:57 PM |
When Zionists are caught in the act of lying to cover up their atrocities, |
so predictable |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 8:02 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
contentless Nessie droppings |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 8:04 PM |
Why so many anti-Palestine monsters here? |
Eternal Palestine |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 8:50 PM |
What's all this jibber jabber? |
Scapegoated Jew |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 8:58 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Because those things aren't true |
Thursday, Jun. 15, 2006 at 9:01 PM |
let's go lie by lie |
more Zionist lies |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 2:54 AM |
let's go nessie lie by nessie lie |
more anti-Zionist lies |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 10:41 AM |
Megafauna |
Lunchbox |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 11:04 AM |
Reality check |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 11:16 AM |
health warning |
gehrig |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 11:30 AM |
SJ, wouldn't you consider... |
Lunchbox |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 11:36 AM |
What really goes on |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 12:18 PM |
Wrongful accusation |
Lunchbox |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 12:46 PM |
Ryan out to lunch |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 1:45 PM |
Little puff piece on a |
Druze Israeli, visiting locally |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 1:50 PM |
Evidence clears Israel of wrong-doing |
Becky Johnson |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 1:56 PM |
there they go again |
focus, please |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 1:58 PM |
One clarification re this Druze's claim |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 1:59 PM |
giving myself carpel tunnel. |
Lunchbox |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 2:23 PM |
Muslim soldiers have |
fought and died for Israel |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 2:33 PM |
More: |
Muslim soldiers in the IDF |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 2:36 PM |
Becky, Becky, Bo Becky. |
Lunchbox |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 2:44 PM |
hee hee hahaha |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 2:59 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
An appology is NOT an admission |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:03 PM |
We are better |
We are better |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:09 PM |
Scapegoated Jew |
Is the spammer Ryan's friend? |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:12 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Spammer is back |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:26 PM |
Murders and thuggery |
Lunchbox |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:43 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
murders and thugs? |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:57 PM |
Defending our given right |
The land is ours |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 3:57 PM |
Spam the Bible and be done with it |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 4:03 PM |
The law is for all |
We will not be denied |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 4:05 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Are you done spamming now kid? |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 5:09 PM |
Proof of our status |
Proof of our status |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 5:16 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Are you done spamming now kid? |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 5:39 PM |
the Bible does tell us that God's chosen people are the Jewish race |
the Bible does tell us that God's chosen |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 5:41 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Are you done spamming now kid? |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 5:43 PM |
To Lunchbox |
Tia |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 5:49 PM |
the real story |
the real story |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 9:36 PM |
"HonestReporting. com" |
ubelievable |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 10:16 PM |
crap on Indymedia |
another logical fallacy |
Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 11:20 PM |
"Address the content" |
more Zionist bullsh*t |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 12:59 AM |
nessie |
Debate Coach's Mentor |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 1:08 AM |
RE: Debate Coach's Mentor |
our new hero! |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 1:11 AM |
"as usual." |
pointer |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 1:12 AM |
"pointer" |
The Un-nessie |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 1:17 AM |
"Now back to the topic." |
The Un-nessie |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 1:37 AM |
begging the question |
bunk logic |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 2:01 AM |
You poor fool. |
The Un-nessie |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 2:26 AM |
non sequitur |
WTF? |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 3:47 AM |
Mellow out |
Have a toke |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 4:46 AM |
An Israeli shell did not kill that family. Period. |
heard it before |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 10:48 AM |
Scapegoated Jew |
anti-Zionist spam just resumed |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 11:23 AM |
more Zionist bullsh*t |
so typical |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 11:53 AM |
funny |
Lunchbox |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 11:58 AM |
Keep laughing. Your wretched life needs such a "high point" |
Scapegoated Jew |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 12:15 PM |
Correct, you're funny |
Scapegoated Jew |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 12:40 PM |
"they repeat themselve like characters in a Monty Python sketch" |
there he goes again |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 12:47 PM |
"Not only do these proven anti-Zionist liars still expect you" |
see what I mean? |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 1:31 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
High school idiot? |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 3:10 PM |
More thoughts |
More thoughts |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 5:04 PM |
Blaming the victim again |
typical Zionist ploy |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 5:29 PM |
Not a Dhimmi no more |
Fuss about having rights |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 5:39 PM |
"say what you are really thinking" |
one more time |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 8:34 PM |
"I said *exactly* what I am thinking" |
another time |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 8:39 PM |
A Letter to the People of Sderot |
Jonathan Pollard |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 9:34 PM |
"by another time Friday, Jun. 16, 2006 at 4:39 PM " |
see what I mean? |
Saturday, Jun. 17, 2006 at 9:43 PM |
"Google "nessie Indymedia," and see what comes up." |
Spongebob Sarcasmpants |
Sunday, Jun. 18, 2006 at 3:32 AM |
How many Palestinians does it take to change a lightbulb? |
Becky Johnson |
Sunday, Jun. 18, 2006 at 1:39 PM |
Still no answer |
tick, tick, tick |
Monday, Jun. 19, 2006 at 3:58 AM |
Still no answer |
tick tack, tick tack, tick tack |
Monday, Jun. 19, 2006 at 4:18 AM |
It's easier to mess with Israel |
Becky Johnson |
Monday, Jun. 19, 2006 at 12:51 PM |
Israel not responsible for Deaths on Gaza Beach |
repost |
Thursday, Jun. 22, 2006 at 1:23 PM |
PA removed shrapnel before transfer to Israeli Hospital |
Jerusalm Post |
Thursday, Jun. 22, 2006 at 2:02 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
stranger and stranger |
Thursday, Jun. 22, 2006 at 3:23 PM |
Don't believe it |
another Zionist lie |
Thursday, Jun. 22, 2006 at 3:58 PM |
Mendacious nessiesque bunk |
Scapegoated Jew |
Thursday, Jun. 22, 2006 at 4:06 PM |
there they go again |
more Zionist bullsh*t |
Thursday, Jun. 22, 2006 at 5:43 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
It wasn't an Israeli shell |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 1:09 PM |
"Israel National News" |
liars |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 1:14 PM |
Addendum |
Lord Locksley |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 1:14 PM |
"an Israeli 155mm howitzer shell would leave a hellaciously large crater in the sand& |
wrong |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 1:36 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
Don't speculate |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 2:01 PM |
It's already been proven. |
scroll up and see |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 2:10 PM |
SchtarkerYid |
No, its over |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 2:38 PM |
"It simply wasn't an Israeli shell" |
another Zionist lie |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 2:49 PM |
Artillery |
Lord Locksley |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 3:33 PM |
You gotta give him credit, he never gives up |
Scapegoated Jew |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 3:35 PM |
What about those Qassam Rocket Attacks?? |
Becky Johnson |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 5:29 PM |
he can't help it |
gehrig |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 6:17 PM |
"What about those Qassam Rocket Attacks??" |
self defense |
Friday, Jun. 23, 2006 at 10:35 PM |
"Internal" UN report contradicts Israeli version of events of beach shelling |
Knight Ridder |
Saturday, Jun. 24, 2006 at 1:27 AM |
Consider the Source |
Lord Locksley |
Saturday, Jun. 24, 2006 at 2:02 AM |
"What about the nukes, the helicopter gunships, the F-16s, the artillery batteries,.. |
debate coach |
Saturday, Jun. 24, 2006 at 2:04 AM |
So I guess you think the rocket attacks are okay |
Becky Johnson |
Saturday, Jun. 24, 2006 at 4:25 AM |
The Devil (George Warmonger Bush) on Likud Extremist at Gaza Strip |
The Devil (George Warmonger Bush) |
Friday, Jun. 30, 2006 at 10:14 AM |
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