CAIRO: Six Egyptian doctors from the Arab Medical Union returning from Gaza shared horror stories from the war-torn Strip s hospitals, directing accusations at Israeli forces for illegally using white phosphorous during the 22-day assault on Gaza. At the Doctors Syndicate Sunday, doctors showed videos and images of injuries and burn marks proving the use of the dangerous chemical on a civilian population. White phosphorus is an element that self ignites upon exposure to oxygen. It breaks into phosphorus crystals when it contacts a person s body, and will burrow into the body until there is no more oxygen. Dr Mohamed Othman, an anesthesiologist, was among the first Egyptian medical convoys allowed into Gaza, accompanied by 10 other doctors in various specialties. We were forced to work in the hallways of the hospital and perform two procedures in one-patient operating rooms, Othman said. Dr Ibrahim Elgeady, an orthopedic surgeon, crossed the Rafah border into Gaza on Dec. 31 after waiting for two days at the border. He made his way to Bait Lahyia under heavy Israeli fire, he said. Elgeady said that hundreds of patients could have avoided amputations had there been more doctors specializing in vascular surgery during the first two weeks. Elgeady showed a graphic picture of a two-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli missiles. The ongoing Israeli strikes, he said, made it impossible for paramedics to get through to the wreckage and discover her body, leaving stray dogs to maul her. According to Dr Ahmed Al-Sadat, around 90 percent of the injured will be permanently disabled. One of the doctors shot a video that showed what appeared to be a white phosphorous bomb exploding just kilometers away from the hospital a few days before the ceasefire initiative. Right now, there is a committee looking into the injuries to determine if white phosphorous or any other banned weapons have been used in Gaza, Dr Mohamed Al-Guindy said. Israel was accused of using illegal weapons in Southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006, but Israeli officials claimed they used white phosphorous as an obscurant, which is legal under the 1980 conventions on the rules of war. In the face of accusations of using the illegal substance as well as of committing other war crimes, Israel appointed a team of international-law experts led by the nation's justice minister to defend its soldiers against any war crime charges that followed its assault on Gaza.
