http://www.ptimes.com/current/news.html#7
Israeli army admits using prohibited munitions against civilians
Palestine Times, August 2001
Occupied Jerusalem - The Israeli occupation army admitted using
internationally-prohibited munitions against Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli State-run radio quoted a senior army officer as saying that the
army "has been using tank-fired flechette anti-personnel shells" against
Palestinians.
This lethal type of munitions killed three Palestinian women from one family
from south of the Gaza Strip on 9 June, and claimed many other lives in the
course of the 8-month-old Palestinian intifada.
The Israeli officer said the use of the deadly shell against individuals was
"legitimate," claiming the army was authorized to use it "outside populated
areas."
The Palestinians, however, strongly dispute the claim, stressing that hundreds
of flechette shells were fired on residential areas.
Hospital sources in Gaza, especially in the Rafah area, spoke of hundreds of
civilians wounded by the darts released when the shell explodes.
According to Jane's Defense Weekly, the Israeli army is using a modified
version of the M949 105 mm APERS-T round provided by the U.S. in the 1970s.
According to a U.S. manual, the round is "designed for close-in assault against
massed infantry assaults and for offensive fire against exposed enemy
personnel."
The Israeli army fitted the M949 shell with the Reshef Technologies OMEGA M127
electronic fuse, which is set, before the round is fired. At the set range, the
forward section of the M949 round ruptures, releasing approximately 5,000 small
flechette darts and a dye marker. The flechettes are dispersed in a cone-shaped
pattern, which is 300 metres long, and about 94 metres wide.
Palestinian security official Abdul Razzaq al-Majayda described the use of the
flechette shells against Palestinian civilians as "a manifestly blatant war
crime."
"Their aim is to maim, cripple and kill as many people as possible," said
Majayda.
