JERUSALEM – When he was hit by a bullet fired by Israeli forces duringdemonstrations in Gaza on April 6, Mohammed al-Zaieem lost so much blood,and his left leg was so deformed, he feared he wouldn’t survive.

His arteries, veins and a large piece of bone were destroyed. His right legwasn’t spared either as the round created a massive exit wound and then hitit as well.

By the time he was transferred to Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah afterundergoing seven surgeries in Gazalink>, there was nothingdoctors could do to save his left leg.

It had to be amputated, unbeknown to al-Zaieem, 22, who was unconscious atthe time.

“No one dared to tell him [when he woke up from the surgery]. I couldn’t,”said his cousin of the same name, who lives in the occupied West Bank.link>

“As he was trying to get up, he suddenly felt the imbalance in his legs. Hewas in shock. It’s like he was searching for his leg. It was the hardestmoment for him. He was silent for five minutes while I was talking withhim.”

Al-Zaieem is among the 24 Palestinians who have had their limbs amputatedsince the March of Great Returnlink>massprotests started on March 30.

Medics on the ground say Israeli forces are shooting at demonstrators witha new type of round – never seen before – known as the “butterfly bullet”,which explodes upon impact, pulverizing tissue, arteries and bone, whilecausing severe internal injuries.

All 24 amputees were shot with a single explosive bullet, includingjournalists Yaser Murtajalink> and Ahmad Abu Husseinlink>whosuccumbed to their wounds after being shot in the abdomen.

“All of their internal organs were totally destroyed, pulverized,” saidAshraf al-Qedra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman.

The bullets are the deadliest the Israeli army has ever used, according toal-Qedra.

“Normally, a regular bullet breaks the leg [upon impact]. But these bulletscreate massive wounds, indicating that an explosion happened inside thebody. It’s an expanding bullet. It pulverizes the leg, and the leg gets cutoff [as a result],” al-Qedra explained.

A wounded demonstrator is evacuated at a recent March of Great Returnprotest, where Palestinians demand the right to return to their homeland[Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

At least 45 Palestinians have been killed since the March of Great Returnmovement began a month ago – the vast majority by this new type ofexplosive bullet, health officials say. About 7,000 Palestinians have beenwounded.

Gaza’s medics have struggled to cope, not just with the sheer number ofinjured demonstrators that rush through the hospital doors every Friday,but also to properly treat these kinds of ghastly wounds.

Medical staff from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operating in Gaza saypatients who have been shot with the rounds have sustained fist-sized woundslink>ofan “unusual severity” and will have to undergo “complex surgicaloperations”.

“Half of the more than 500 patients we have admitted in our clinics haveinjuries where the bullet has literally destroyed tissue after havingpulverized the bone,” said Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, head of MSF inPalestine, in a reportlink>.

“Managing these injuries is very difficult… A lot of patients will keepfunctional deficiencies for the rest of their life.”

Explosive rounds were banned internationally under the 1899 HagueConvention because of the “unnecessary injury and suffering caused fromlarge bullet wounds”.

Under international law, when the use of force is unavoidable, lawenforcement officials must make all efforts to minimise injury.

“We know about the kind of wounds that this bullet creates in the body andfrom the remnants of the bullets, the shrapnel that they take out. We knowthat this is something that we’ve never seen before,” al-Qedra said, addingthat the rounds have been used since the March of Great Return movementbegan.

The spokesperson for the Israeli army did not respond to Al Jazeera forcomment by the time of publication.

Many have documentedlink>howIsrael has “turned the occupied territories into a laboratory for refining,testing and showcasing its weapons systems”, which it later sells worldwidewith the advertisement that the products have been “tested in combat”.

Israel link> is smallerthan New York, yet it’s believed to be the largest per capita weaponsexporter in the world.

The butterfly bullet, however, isn’t the only new weapon featuredprominently in the protests in Gaza.

Palestinians have also noted an unknown toxic gas launched atdemonstrators, which provokes severe convulsions.

The yellow-green gas has caused many who were exposed to it to convulse,their legs and bodies thrashing violently as they lay on the ground. – AlJazeera