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After doctors accuse Israel of shooting Gazan kids, experts see need for a second opinion
On January 30, as Israeli and Thai hostages were being released from Hamas captivity amid chaotic mobs, John Spencer, a leading international expert on urban warfare, watched the proceedings while focusing on one specific detail: the weapons held by Hamas gunmen. “They were carrying M16 and M4 rifles which use 5.56 mm bullets, the same rifles that Israeli soldiers use,” Spencer told The Times of Israel by email.
To Spencer, head of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point in the US, the terrorists’ use of the same weapon as the IDF cast serious doubts on the allegation made in an essay in The New York Times three months earlier implying that Israeli soldiers were deliberately targeting children during the 15-month Gaza war. “They were carrying M16 and M4 rifles which use 5.56 mm bullets, the same rifles that Israeli soldiers use,” Spencer told The Times of Israel by email. Attached to the essay were X-ray pictures appearing to show 5.56-millimeter rounds lodged in children’s heads and necks.
--snip--
“A single X-ray view cannot provide a medical professional with enough information to determine etiology of the injury,” said Dr. Tyler Reynolds, an American trauma surgeon with 13 years of military and civilian experience who stated that he was not speaking on behalf of any institution. “In these images, the projectile may be inside or outside the skull.”
Two of the images reflect what appear to be 5.56 mm bullets, said Dr. Gavin Harris, assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who has a degree in military history and personal firearms experience.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-doctors-accuse-israel-of-shooting-gazan-kids-experts-see-need-for-a-second-opinion/
To Spencer, head of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point in the US, the terrorists’ use of the same weapon as the IDF cast serious doubts on the allegation made in an essay in The New York Times three months earlier implying that Israeli soldiers were deliberately targeting children during the 15-month Gaza war. “They were carrying M16 and M4 rifles which use 5.56 mm bullets, the same rifles that Israeli soldiers use,” Spencer told The Times of Israel by email. Attached to the essay were X-ray pictures appearing to show 5.56-millimeter rounds lodged in children’s heads and necks.
--snip--
“A single X-ray view cannot provide a medical professional with enough information to determine etiology of the injury,” said Dr. Tyler Reynolds, an American trauma surgeon with 13 years of military and civilian experience who stated that he was not speaking on behalf of any institution. “In these images, the projectile may be inside or outside the skull.”
Two of the images reflect what appear to be 5.56 mm bullets, said Dr. Gavin Harris, assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who has a degree in military history and personal firearms experience.
The article goes on to show how every single accusation of targeting children leveled against IDF soldiers is based on speculation and innuendo, and not on evidence.