During a conference organized on February 26 at the National Council for Scientific Research, experts confirmed that no levels of uranium other than the natural occurrence were found in the zones bombed by Israel during the July-August war. These findings were announced by a panel of representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and the National Atomic Energy Commission and the army. A polemic arose after the war concerning the crater caused by an Israeli missile in the Khiam village: a high level of uranium was detected. But as per the tests carried out by the National Commission, the AIEA and the UNEP, this Uranium could be found in the nature of the soil itself and not processed and originating from a missile.

According to Didier Louvat, in charge of the prevention against radio active wastes at the AIEA, “there is no clear evidence of the use of depleted uranium in this conflict”. The UNEP had tackled the uranium issue in its report recently published on the aftermath of the war upon the request of the Ministry of Environment. The report included an inspection of 35 sites and took samples from 27 of them. Samples were analyzed in labs. The tests findings confirmed to the experts that depleted uranium wasn’t used on the ground. Depleted uranium can cause renal dysfunction. The connection between the exposure to such substance and the emergence of cancers is also under study but not yet proven.

Official reports issued at the conference of February 26 seem reassuring today for the local population. But the population still has to face, among others, to mortal dangers generated from cluster bombs disseminated by the Israeli army during the last days of the war.