As Israel Defense Forces rain bombs on the Gaza Strip pummelling buildings and killing thousands, a Human Rights Watch report has claimed that Israel was using white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
White phosphorus is an incendiary weapon, which means it can spread fire along with its destructive explosive power. Since it has legal uses, white phosphorus is not banned as a chemical weapon under international conventions. Many countries use it in battlefields to make smoke screens, generate illumination, mark targets or burn bunkers and buildings. It can cause serious burns and start fires and cause life-long suffering for people.
According to Human Rights Watch, verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, show multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.
The organisation also interviewed two people who described an attack in Gaza. Both of them, from al-Mina area in Gaza City, reported observing strikes consistent with the use of white phosphorus. "One was in the street at the time, while the other was in a nearby office building. Both described ongoing airstrikes before seeing explosions in the sky followed by what they described as white lines going earthward," the report said, adding that both reported a strong and stifling smell.
One of them recorded a video, which was reviewed by the Human Rights Watch, which identified that the munitions used in the strike were airburst 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles. Other videos posted to social media and verified by Human Rights Watch show the same location.
"Human Rights Watch also reviewed two videos from October 10 from two locations near the Israel-Lebanon border. Each shows 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles being used, apparently as smokescreens, marking, or signalling," it added.
"The white phosphorus can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone as it is highly soluble in fat and therefore in human flesh. White phosphorus fragments can exacerbate wounds even after treatment can enter the bloodstream and cause multiple organ failure. Already dressed wounds can reignite when dressings are removed and the wounds are re-exposed to oxygen. Even relatively minor burns are often fatal," it said.
It added that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in videos of air bursting white phosphorus projectiles.
However, the Israeli military said it was "currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorus in Gaza." It opted not to comment on the rights watchdog's allegations of their use in Lebanon.
Israel has not signed the Protocol III of the Convention on the Prohibition of Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which prohibits using incendiary weapons against military targets located among civilians.
