AC writes:
An Amnesty International team in Gaza is reporting on the targeting of medics by Israel and has found evidence of US missiles being used in the attack.
The munitions appear to be AGM-114 HELLFIRE missiles, anti-tank, anti-armor laser-guided missiles developed by Lockeed Martin/Boeing
out of Lockheed's "Missiles and Fire Control" division in Dallas, Texas
and produced by Hellfire Systems L.L.C., a Lockheed/Boeing joint
venture in Orlando, FL.
In 2005, the U.S. government sold Taiwan an order of Hellfire missiles under a foreign military sales contract. According to Lockheed Martin, "The Taiwan portion represents approximately 70 percent
of the rounds to be delivered; between 5–10 percent are earmarked for
Israel under FMS…"
The
Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), a Department of Defense
agency that handles arms sales and foreign military assistance, notified Congress
in October 2007 of an arms sale request by Israel. Among the munitions
to be sold were 1,700 Hellfire missiles of different variations. One of
the "principal contractors", according to the DSCA, was "HELLFIRE
Systems Limited Liability Company of Orlando, Florida."
The Amnesty International report concludes with the following:
"With several ambulances in the street below, and paramedics plainly
visible by their phosphorescent jackets, it must have been clear to the
Israeli surveillance drones hovering above the area and the tank crews
a few kilometres away in the Jabal Raiss area that there were medics in
the house, yet they fired nevertheless."
