Doctors said that, unlike traditional combat injuries from shells or bullets, there were no large shrapnel pieces found in the patients' bodies and there appeared to be a "dusting" on severely damaged internal organs. "Bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured," said Jumaa Saqa'a, a doctor at Shifa hospital, the main casualty hospital in Gaza City. "We found internal burning of organs, while externally there were minute pieces of shrapnel. When we opened many of the injured people we found dusting on the internal organs."

At the Kamal Odwan Hospital, in Beit Lahiya, deputy director Saied Jouda, said he had found similar injuries. "We don't know what it means - new weapons or something new added to a previous weapon," he said. "We had patients who died after stabilisation and that is very unusual... there was burning, big raw areas of charred flesh," he said. "This must be related to the type of explosive material."

"You have complete burns that lead to amputation. You find shrapnel entering the body and leaving very, very small holes. We have never seen this before," said Khalid Radi, a spokesman at the health ministry."

We know that the Israelis used American "bunker-buster" bombs on Hizbollah's Beirut headquarters. We know that they drenched southern Lebanon with cluster bombs in the last 72 hours of the war, leaving tens of thousands of bomblets which are still killing Lebanese civilians every week. And we now know - after it first categorically denied using such munitions - that the Israeli army also used phosphorous bombs, weapons which are supposed to be restricted under the third protocol of the Geneva Conventions, which neither Israel nor the United States have signed.

But scientific evidence gathered from at least two bomb craters in Khiam and At-Tiri, the scene of fierce fighting between Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops last July and August, suggests that uranium-based munitions may now also be included in Israel's weapons inventory - and were used against targets in Lebanon. According to Dr Chris Busby, the British Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, two soil samples thrown up by Israeli heavy or guided bombs showed "elevated radiation signatures". Both have been forwarded for further examination to the Harwell laboratory in Oxfordshire for mass spectrometry - used by the Ministry of Defence - which has confirmed the concentration of uranium isotopes in the samples.

Dr Busby's initial report states that there are two possible reasons for the contamination. "The first is that the weapon was some novel small experimental nuclear fission device or other experimental weapon (eg, a thermobaric weapon) based on the high temperature of a uranium oxidation flash ... The second is that the weapon was a bunker-busting conventional uranium penetrator weapon employing enriched uranium rather than depleted uranium." A photograph of the explosion of the first bomb shows large clouds of black smoke that might result from burning uranium.

Chris Bellamy, the professor of military science and doctrine at Cranfield University, who has reviewed the Busby report, said: "At worst it's some sort of experimental weapon with an enriched uranium component the purpose of which we don't yet know. At best - if you can say that - it shows a remarkably cavalier attitude to the use of nuclear waste products."

One of the children made a statement after his release."The prison administration has forced all prisoners in Telmond Prison to work eight hours for very low wages." He went on to say, "The Israeli soldiers come to the chambers at seven and force us to go with our legs tied with chains." The child added that his job was to stand under guard and pack plastic spoons in boxes.

Israeli prison officials also attempt to extract information from children regarding members of the armed resistance and engage in frequent psychological abuse ...there are two hundred children less than 16 years old in Israeli prisons begin subjected to some of the worst forms of exploitation and humiliation.

The western Ramallah's Beit Ur At Tahta Village boys have been subject to severe beatings at the hands of Israeli soldiers. Members of the intelligence in charge of interrogating the children have beaten and threatened both and forced them to sign statements. Prisoner Society lawyer Adal Khalaila met with the boys on 11 September and described their situation as "tragic."

Khalaila described Othman as a "tall, skinny boy in prison contrary to all norms of international law. It is also contrary to Israeli law which does not allow arresting Palestinians under 12 years old." The lawyer reported that Israeli soldiers arrested the 11 year old from the streets of his village on 25 August under the pretext that he had thrown stones at Israeli forces. Khalaila stated that due to the boy's young age and lack of maturity or knowledge of how to handle the torturous investigations that most Palestinian males undergo at some point in their lives, he signed the investigators' report without knowing the content. "He was under threat and intimidation, beatings and insults."

None of the child's family members have been allowed to visit him and it remains unknown when or if he will be released. The Israeli military court has held three hearings for the boy since his arrest.