During Operation Cast Lead, improvised grenades probably manufactured by Hamas were found inside drug bottles.

1. During Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, IDF forces seized improvised grenades inside plastic drug bottles. The grenades were mostly designed to hit IDF forces inside buildings (the grenades have a limited damage potential in open areas). Weighing about 40 g (1.4 oz), the explosives were put into the drug bottles. A time fuse was connected to a detonator (the metal cylinder pictured below). The grenade is detonated by lighting the time fuse and throwing the device.

2. The plastic bottles used for producing the hand grenades normally hold a drug called Equetro, used to treat seizures. It is produced by several companies, including an international company called Shire, whose name appears on the bottle (lower right). The bottles were manufactured by a local Palestinian drug company from Jerusalem based in Al-Bireh (Jerusalem Post, February 13). It is our assessment that the drugs were transported into the Gaza Strip as part of large-scale humanitarian aid shipments from the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip.

3. Citing a defense source, a Jerusalem Post article says that Hamas made use of the improvised grenades during Operation Cast Lead. Those grenades, inside Equetro drug bottles, were discovered in the northern Gaza Strip. In addition, improvised grenades were found in bottles of a vitamin supplement known as Super-Vit (a concentrated extract of vitamins and minerals which enhance plant growth and maintain lush, healthy vegetation) (from article by Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, February 13).

Right: hand grenade in an Equetro bottle Left: hand grenade in a vitamin supplement bottle		Right: the Equetro drug bottle Left: the two vitamin supplement bottles