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February
12, 2001 - Khan Younis, Gaza Strip:
Israel begins a six-week campaign of “novel gas” attacks in the Gaza
Strip and the West Bank. Troops lob gas canisters into streets, courtyards, and
houses of Khan Younis city and Gharbi refugee camp.
Fifty people
admitted to Al-Nasser Hospital “in an odd state of hysteria and nervous
breakdown..fainting and spasms.” Sixteen have to be transferred to the intensive
care unit. Doctors “reported the Israeli use of gas that appeared to cause
convulsions.” (1)
At the Gharbi refugee camp,
thirty-two people “were treated for serious injuries” following exposure
to the gas. Dr. Salakh Shami, Al-Amal Hospital reports hospital received “about
130 patients suffering from gas inhalation..” (2)
Bewildered medical personnel
had “never seen anything..like the gas at Tufa.” Victims were “jumping
up and down, left and right..thrashing limbs around”, suffering “with
convulsions..a kind of hysteria. They were all shaking.” Vicitms would fall
unconscious, then ‘come to’ hours later to face convulsions, vomiting,
disorientation and pain. (3)
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18
year-old Mohammed Sultan, six weeks after being attacked with unknown gas:
“It eats me like ants and I try to scratch it out – and they gave
me all those injections for nothing – I scratch and scratch and the pain
never goes away. It crawls in my body like ants…but the worst thing was
the headache. I come and go – if I sit in the sun for a while I start to
get a headache and I feel pressure building up...I feel weak and tired and my
bones ache. I ate yesterday and threw it up, and I haven’t eaten anything
since then. As much as I try to forget, it’s useless..I keep on getting
these headaches.” |
Gas
Attacks in Khan Younis, February 2001: Interviews with victims and medical personnel
by James Longley, producer of Gaza
Strip. For full text and photos, see Interviews |
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