A Tribute to Mads Gilbert

There are certain people I truly admire. Their moral principles, courage and contribution to society is purely breathtaking. As I read about their work in awe, I can’t help but feel motivated to fight for humanity, fight for justice, fight for peace, just like they do. One of those people is Mads Gilbert, the Norwegian physician who arrived along with Erik Fosse to support the humanitarian effort at al-Shifa Hospital during operation cast lead, or more accurately, the Gaza massacre. This post will be a compilation of all his interviews and videos during the recent attack on Gaza.

January 5 2009
BBC Interview with the Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, during operation cast lead:

January 5 2009
Mads Gilbert talking to Sky News:

January 5 2009
Mads Gilbert says Israel using DIME (Dense Inert Metal Explosive):

Interview Transcript: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80685&sectionid=3510302

January 12 2009
Mads Gilbert in Egypt, after leaving Gaza:

Democracy Now, Interview with Marc Garlasco (Human Rights Watch) and Dr. Mads Gilbert:

Amy Goodman: Can you explain more fully these kinds of amputations, Dr. Gilbert?

Dr. Mads Gilbert: You know, often, if you have a grenade amputation or an amputation from any kind of metal fragment, it will be more like you had a hatch or an ax or a huge knife that cut through your bone and the muscle. What we see in these suspected DIME amputations is that the whole limb is crushed in a way that must suggest some sort of immense power that has hit the lower part of the body. And we know that these small bombs, which the DIME bombs are, explodes in a way so that it will mainly affect the lower limbs. The limbs are—you will have multiple very severe fractures. The muscles are sort of split from the bones, hanging loose. And you also have quite severe burns where this energy wave has hit.

If you look at pictures from sites where these patients have come, you don’t see fragments in the walls in the house around, maybe fifteen, twenty meters apart from the explosions. And you see only some stripes of power in the sand on the ground, and these actually are the examples that the power dissipates very quickly, maybe within five or ten meters of the explosion, so that you will not have this kind of collateral damage, as it’s called. But in Gaza, again, so densely populated, that these DIME weapons will have a devastating effect. Also, they are, by some, classified as nuclear weapons.

For full interview transcript, visit http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/14/white_phosphorous_and_dense_inert_metal

Riz speaks with Mahmoud Daher (WHO) in Gaza and Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert:

Human Rights Watch: Photographs of White Phosphorus Use

Ahmad Abu Halima kneels next to the hole in the roof of his house from a 155mm white phosphorus shell strike on January 4, 2009. His father, three of his brothers, and a sister were all killed by the ensuing fire. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

White phosphorus shell found in the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City, struck on January 15, 2009. © 2009 Bill van Esveld/Human Rights Watch

At least three white phosphorus shells struck the main compound of the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA) in central Gaza City on January 15, wounding three and starting fires that gutted four buildings and destroyed more than US$3.7 million worth of medical supplies. © 2009 Courtesy UNRWA Archives

A burning wedge of white phosphorus in Khuza’a village ten days after it hit the town. The spent wedges usually contain enough phosphorus after burning out that they reignite when kicked. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

White phosphorus artillery is air-burst over Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. Each shell contains 116 felt wedges which can fall over an area up to 250 meters in diameter. © 2009 Getty Images

The car driven by the al-Haddad family on January 10, 2009, when it was hit by white phosphorus. The gas tank exploded, killing four and seriously injuring a fifth. The car was moved from the intersection where it had been hit to the vacant lot where it was photographed on January 28. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

The administration building of Al-Quds hospital was gutted by fire started by white phosphorous. The hospital was hit by two white phosphorus shells on January 15, 2009, forcing the evacuation of all patients and staff. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

The scorched children’s playroom inside Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City. The fifth-floor playroom was destroyed during a white phosphorus attack on January 15, 2009. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

Inside the Abu Halima house where the fire from the white phosphorus was so hot that it melted the outlets. Five civilians were killed in the fire, including four children and their father. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

The site where Hanan al-Najjar, 47, was killed by white phosphorus shell fragments. The roof of the house was littered with remnants of white phosphorus wedges, and inside lay the shell pieces that killed her. © 2009 Marc Garlasco/Human Rights Watch

For more pictures, visit http://www.hrw.org/en/features/israelgaza-photographs-white-phosphorus-use

Johann Hari: Israel’s Troops Confirm It: They Were Ordered To Commit Atrocities

None of this had to happen. On the eve of the attack, Ephraim Halevy, the former head of Mossad, said that the way to stop rocket attacks on Israel was to draw Hamas, the elected Palestinian government, into negotiation and compromise – but “Israel, for reasons of its own, did not want to turn the ceasefire into the start of a diplomatic process with Hamas.”

War-shocked Gaza children ‘want to die’

Palestinian boys wounded by an Israeli tank shell wait for treatment at Shifa hospital in Gaza in January

“At the bravest times they’ve thought, ‘I want to die. My father was dead in the Israeli attack – I want to be with them. So I want to die. There’s nothing good about this life. At least when I die, I will be with my parents, and it will be heaven and paradise’.”

For full article, visit http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/13/2541280.htm?section=world

Gazan children to be screened for long-term effects of white phosphorus smoke

The children, 300 from the Afaluna Society for Deaf Children and 700 associated with the Culture and Free Thought Association in Gaza will be screened with particular attention to the long-term effects of the use of white phosphorus weapons by Israel during its war against the Gaza Strip.

Children requiring follow-up treatment and medications will be seen by both Japanese and Jordanian doctors, who are supporting the initiative.

For full article, visit http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37056

437 children killed, 1872 injured in Israel’s offensive

In interviews with human rights groups, several children said that they spend days next to their dead parents as the Israeli shelling was ongoing and medics could not enter the shelled areas to search for survivals.

Anne Finman of the UNICEF stated that she visited a UNICEF Psychological Support Center and the Red Crescent Society in Gaza last March, and witnessed children drawing missiles that targeted their homes; one child drew a dark area under her drawing and said that this is “a place for burying the dead”

For full news article, visit http://www.imemc.org/article/59886

Independent fact-finding mission into violations of human rights in the Gaza Strip during the period 27.12.2008 – 18.01.2009

In their concluding remarks, the experts say:

“The underlying meaning of the attack on the Gaza Strip, or at least its final consequence, appears to be one of creating terror without mercy to anyone. Nearly all the people we spoke to slept cuddled together with the other members of their family in a central room of the house during the three weeks of attack. No one knew where or when the next bomb or explosion would occur. It appears that the wide range of attacks with sophisticated weaponry was predominantly focussed on terrorising the population. …”

For full article, visit http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=708&catid=54&pcat=-1&lang=ENG

To download full report, click here.

From Witness to Memory: Gaza March 2009

I am watching the children running down a dirt laneway, running home from school, laughing and chasing each other, glancing at me as they pass, a stranger simply crouching in a field staring glassy-eyed at their existence. I stand up and look back towards the house to see a young girl from the family running towards me and as she approaches she looks at me straight in the eyes and I notice she too is crying, and she notices I am crying, I look away and she looks where I’m looking and then sits in the dirt, we don’t speak, she takes out a pen and paper and starts writing a letter, she writes a few lines and then scrunches up the paper and throws it away. She starts writing again and I crouch down to her level, she asks, “why are you crying?” I point to my eyes and say, “because of what we see in Gaza”. She nods. I ask her “why are you crying?” “Yusef” she says, “I miss him”, then she reaches out and hugs me, we hug, and cry, and it all feels strange and awkward and comforting at the same time, she stands up and takes my hand and leads me back to the house, I am not ready to go, but I follow her.

A missile found in the Abed Rabu home

To read the rest of Jessie Boylan’s account of the horror she witnessed in Gaza, click here.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk

The graph below, based on Israeli sources, shows the number of Palestinian rockets and mortar shells fired each month in 2008, with the period of the ceasefire stretching basically from its initiation on 19 June to its effective termination on 4 November when Israel struck a lethal blow in Gaza that reportedly killed at least six Hamas operatives. It dramatically demonstrates the extent to which the ceasefire was by far the most secure period with respect to the threats posed by the rockets:

The authors of a study based on the data displayed in the graph above5 concluded that “the ceasefire was remarkably effective; after it began in June 2008, the rate of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza dropped to almost zero, and stayed there for almost four months.” The experience of the temporary ceasefire demonstrates both the willingness and the capacity of those exerting control in Gaza to eliminate rocket and mortar attacks.

To download Richard Falk’s full report, click here.

Cut to pieces: the Palestinian family drinking tea in their courtyard

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Sitting around drinking tea with the family in their small courtyard, Mounir heard the loud buzzing of an Israeli drone, clearly visible in the sky above.

He went inside for a moment and, as he returned, he saw a ball of light hurtling down toward him. There was a loud explosion and he was thrown backward. He gathered himself and stumbled out into the courtyard, where he saw the scene he says will never leave him.

“We found Mohammed lying there, cut in half. Ahmed was in three pieces; Wahid was totally burnt – his eyes were gone. Wahid’s father was dead. Nour had been decapitated. We couldn’t see her head anywhere.”

For full article, visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/gaza-war-crimes-drones