BEIRUT, Aug 2: The Israeli military may have used chemical weapons against civilians in Sunday’s deadly bombardment of an apartment block in the southern Lebanese city of Qana, a senior local Lebanese medic said in an interview with Adnkronos International, an Italian news agency.

“From an initial examination of the corpses and body parts that have been arriving here each day, it is highly likely that the Israeli army used various kinds of chemical weapons in the attack,” said Mustafa Jarradi, the department head of the main hospital in the southern port city of Tyre, which has been receiving victims from Qana.

Over 60 people, including 30 children, were killed in the attack.

“I don’t rule out the possibility that the Israeli military has used phosphorous,” said Jarradi, appealing to international laboratories to test the Qana victims’ remains and confirm his diagnosis.

“To be certain, sophisticated analysis is needed, which we are currently unable to carry out as we are struggling to cope with the victims of the conflict in the south which we are admitting to hospital each day,” Jarradi stressed.—AKI