U.S. surgeon says Israeli snipers deliberately targeted Palestinian children
In an interview with "CBS Sunday Morning" that aired Sunday, July 21, an American surgeon who volunteered in Gaza, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, claimed that Israeli snipers deliberately targeted Palestinian children, including toddlers.
"I had children who were shot twice," said Dr. Perlmutter, who volunteered in Gaza at the end of April and the first couple of weeks of May. "I have two children that I have photographs of that were shot so perfectly in the chest I couldn't put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately and directly on the side of the head in the same child."
Perlmutter added, "
No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the world's best snipers. And they’re dead-center shots." Similar accounts were reported by other foreign doctors who volunteered in Gaza and spoke to the
Guardian in April, stating that Israeli snipers were targeting children in the head.
Earlier this month, Israeli outlet
+972 Magazine published a report citing Israeli soldiers, detailing how the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza essentially had no restrictions on who they could shoot. The report claimed that the IDF "routinely executes" civilians who enter areas deemed "no-go zones" by the military and it included incidents where young children were killed. (Related:
Israeli army approves BRUTAL and SHOCKING "free-for-all" violence in Gaza.)
Dr. Perlmutter, vice president of the International College of Surgeons, said in his interview that what he witnessed in Gaza was worse than all the disaster zones he had seen combined. "Forty mission trips, 30 years, Ground Zero, earthquakes. All of that combined doesn't equal the level of carnage that I saw against civilians in just my first week in Gaza," he said.
When asked if the civilians he saw
wounded or killed were mostly children, Perlmutter responded, "Almost exclusively children. I’ve never seen that before. Never seen that. I’ve seen more incinerated children than I've ever seen in my entire life combined. I've seen more shredded children in just the first week."
Explaining what he meant by "shredded" children, Perlmutter said, "Missing body parts, being crushed by buildings, the greatest majority, or bomb explosions, the next greatest majority. We've taken shrapnel as big as my thumb out of eight-year-olds."
Nearly 16,000 Gaza children killed by Israeli troops
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, nearly 16,000 children have been killed by the Israeli assault on Gaza and about 38,000 have been wounded, many of whom have become amputees. Due to the Israeli siege, children's limbs have been amputated without anesthetics.
Children make up over a third of the more than 32,000 casualties in Israel's months-long assault on Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in April. Tens of thousands of young people have suffered severe injuries, including amputations.
Nine doctors, mostly foreign volunteers, shared their experiences of working in Gaza hospitals. They said many of the dead and wounded children were hit by shrapnel or burned during extensive bombardments of residential neighborhoods. Some children were killed or injured by collapsing buildings, with many still missing under the rubble.
Doctors also noted a disturbing pattern of treating children, elderly people and non-combatants with single bullet wounds to the head or chest, suggesting they were targeted. Eyewitness accounts and video evidence support claims that Israeli soldiers have fired on civilians, including children, outside of combat situations.
In mid-February, a group of UN experts accused the Israeli military of targeting Palestinian civilians, including children, seeking shelter. The
Guardian's review with military experts and forensic pathologists found it difficult to conclusively determine the circumstances of the shootings but noted the use of Israeli military ammunition.
Eyewitness accounts described civilians coming under fire while waving white flags, and Israeli newspaper
Haaretz reported that Israel routinely fires on civilians in areas declared as "combat zones." The IDF uses snipers during combat operations and both Israeli and foreign human rights groups have documented instances of snipers firing on unarmed Palestinians, including children.
A new development in the Gaza conflict is the use of armed drones, or quadcopters, which can hover over streets and target individuals. Palestinians report that these drones have been used to shoot civilians.
More related news can be found at
Genocide.news.
Watch this video of
Israeli Snipers shooting and killing anything that moves in the Gaza Strip.
This video is from
Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Israel used U.S.-made missiles and bombs in deadly Gaza school strike.
Death toll in Gaza could hit nearly 600,000 people as "indirect deaths" pile up, The Lancet projects.
Hunger "worse than bombings" in starved-out Gaza: "people dizzy and weak."
Sources include:
News.Antiwar.com
TheGuardian.com
Brighteon.com