A harrowing case has highlighted the devastating impact of Israel’s indiscriminate anti-personnel weapons being used on Gaza’s civilians, as a young man sustains life-altering injuries due to a penetrating chest trauma after being targetted by an IDF quadcopter drone.
According to medical professionals, the young man suffered paralysis in his right arm due to a catastrophic injury to his brachial plexus — a network of nerves that controls the arm and hand. The damage was caused by a single tungsten cube, a component of a weapon designed for internal organ destruction.
Dr. Mohammad Tahir, a London-based orthopaedic and peripheral nerve surgeon on a medical mission in Gaza, said he found a small tungsten cube “designed to explode and cause maximum damage” while operating on a Palestinian man injured by an Israeli explosive weapon. The small cube had severed a nerve in the victim’s arm, causing likely permanent paralysis, according to Dr. Tahir.
“I was shocked,” said the attending physician. “A single cube penetrated his skin, cut through both the upper and lower trunks of the brachial plexus, and lodged itself in the skin of his back. Despite our best efforts, the paralysis is likely permanent due to the nature of the injury.”
The physician explained that these tungsten cubes are engineered by Israel as part of explosive weapons designed to inflict widespread harm.
“These perfectly formed cubes are small but lethal. In this case, the cube was just millimeters away from the patient’s main artery. If he had been without access to medical care, he would have died,” the doctor added.
An unidentified weapon packed with unusual “cube-shaped shrapnel” has killed or wounded Palestinian civilians in the Gaza war, according to an Amnesty International report from February.
Amnesty International’s delegates in Gaza found evidence of a new type of missile, seemingly launched from unmanned drones, which explodes into tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2 and 4 millimeters in size. These cubes were observed embedded deep in concrete walls and capable of penetrating even thick metal doors, appearing purpose-built to cause maximum injury.
Earlier this year, The Guardian reported that Israeli-made weapons designed to spray high levels of shrapnel have caused devastating injuries, particularly to children in Gaza. Surgeons working in European and al-Aqsa hospitals described extensive wounds caused by fragmentation weapons that left tiny entry points but wreaked havoc internally. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon, noted, “About half of the injuries I took care of were in young kids. These splinters caused tremendous damage inside the body despite their small size.”
“The injuries we’re seeing are unlike anything we’ve encountered before,” said Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopaedic surgeon. “The bones are shattered beyond repair, and many of the children we operated on had no choice but to undergo amputations.”
Dr. Sanjay Adusumilli shared a similar perspective: “It’s heartbreaking to see a child come in with a tiny wound on the outside but devastating injuries internally. We saw so many lives cut short or permanently altered by these weapons.”
“Children are more vulnerable to any penetrating injury because they have smaller bodies. Their vital parts are smaller and easier to disrupt,” Dr. Sidhwa added. “A single piece of shrapnel can do irreparable damage to their organs and blood vessels.”
Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosives expert, emphasized the deadly precision of these weapons. “The tungsten cubes are designed to maximize casualties within a specific radius. The amount of destruction they cause is chilling,” he said.
Ball further explained, “These weapons are small compared to other munitions, but their ability to inflict harm in densely populated areas makes them particularly devastating. When fired into a crowded area, the military knows most casualties will be civilians.”
An Al Jazeera investigation from November 2023 highlighted the role of Gaza as a “testing ground” for Israeli weaponry. The Israeli Spike drone rocket, often modified with tungsten cube fragmentation sleeves, was described as capable of shredding human flesh within a 20-meter radius. “These projectiles tear tissue from flesh,” noted Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza.
Ahmed Saeed al-Najar, a survivor of a 2014 Spike drone attack, recounted his ordeal. “The drone missile came through my car’s sunroof, killing all six of my passengers instantly,” he said. Al-Najar suffered extensive burns, the loss of his right leg, and permanent injuries. Despite these horrifying accounts, global demand for Israeli drones surged after the conflict.
Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Ministry of Health, has reported an increase in the use of incendiary weapons in recent months. “Medical teams are observing unprecedented injuries, including deep burns down to the bone caused by unknown munitions,” he said. Dr. Ahmed el-Mokhallalati, a plastic surgeon in Gaza, described these burns as unlike any he had encountered before, “not phosphorus burns but a combination of incendiary effects and other components.”
An analysis by Antony Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory , linked these technological advancements to Israel’s arms industry. “Weapons tested in each war Israel wages see a spike in global demand,” he wrote. This includes drones like the Heron TP, heavily marketed as “combat-proven” and exported to over 20 countries.
As of November 2024, the United Nations reports that the conflict in Gaza has resulted in over 44,000 deaths, with a significant proportion being women and children.
Regarding injuries, the UN has documented over 103,000 individuals wounded in Gaza since the onset of hostilities.
While a detailed breakdown by age is not provided, given that children constitute a substantial portion of the casualties, it is reasonable to infer that a significant number of the injured are also children.
In August, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 16,456 children and over 11,000 women had been killed by Israel, with 10,000 more ‘missing’ Palestinians believed to be buried under mountains of rubble.
Unicef has described the scale of child casualties as “unprecedented,” and the UN has added Israel to a list of states committing violations against children during conflict.
The incident underscores the indiscriminate nature of such weapons and the severe toll they take on civilians. Reports of similar injuries have been documented, and the continued use of these weapons has drawn sharp condemnation. “In my opinion, the use of these weapons constitutes a war crime,” Doctor Tahir stated.
Advocates and medical experts are calling for urgent action to address the use of such devices, which is causing mass suffering and death to Gaza’s civilians.
