An international human rights watchdog has accused Israel of using white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
The substance, generally released in airbursts, is capable of causing major burns and death if it comes into contact with human skin.
In a statement reported by Reuters, the Israeli military said: “The current accusation made against the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false.
“The IDF has not deployed the use of the such munitions,” it added. It was not immediately clear whether the latter statement also applied to Lebanon.
“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement.
“White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”
Here are some of the facts about white phosphorus.
What is white phosphorus?
White phosphorus is a type of munition that first saw widespread use in the First World War. It is generally delivered on the battlefield by artillery shells, rockets or bombs.
It is pyrophoric, which means it ignites and burns fiercely when it makes contact with oxygen.
It produces a thick white smoke, and a distinct smell of garlic.
How can it be used?
Then, as now, it is used to create smoke to obscure military movements, for lighting up an area, for marking targets or to burn structures. It can also be used to destroy enemy troop positions.
Its high heat and dense smoke can interfere with infrared optics and weapon-tracking systems, providing its user with protection from defensive countermeasures such as anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.
What does it do to people?
Because it burns at such a high heat — 815 C — white phosphorus can cause horrific third-degree burns when it comes into contact with the skin. But because phosphorus is highly soluble in fat and easily absorbed through the skin, it can cause chemical and thermal burns right down to the bone.
Because it will continue to burn in the presence of oxygen until it is consumed, if a wound is not properly cleaned, white phosphorus can reignite in the body when a bandage is changed, re-exposing it to oxygen.
Inside the body, it can cause damage to the liver, kidneys, heart and central nervous system. White phosphorus burns to as little as 10 per cent of the body can lead to death due to damage to major organs.
Survivors of a white phosphorus burn typically have major scarring.
Is it legal?
Because its defining characteristic is its heat and flame, rather than toxicity, white phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon.
However, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) — a UN pact that seeks to restrict the use of certain weapons considered excessively injurious or whose effects are indiscriminate — addresses the use of incendiary weapons in Protocol III:
“It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons,” reads Article 2, par. 2.
The CCW defines incendiary weapons as: “any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of flame, heat, or combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target.”
It is arguable, however, that because of the phrase “primarily designed,” that definition might exclude white phosphorus, given that it has multiple uses on a battlefield.
Is white phosphorus being used in Gaza?
Human Rights Watch said in a Thursday statement that it had verified video taken in Lebanon on Oct. 10 and Gaza on Oct. 11 as showing “multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus.”
The Lebanon videos came from two rural location along the Israel Lebanon border; the other set came from the Gaza City port, said the organization.
In its statement, Human Rights Watch also said it interviewed two people by phone from the al-Mina area in Gaza City who “described observing strikes consistent with the use of white phosphorus.”
The white phosphorus accusation comes in the midst of seven days of fighting following Saturday’s attack by Hamas on Israel, the taking of Israelis as hostages and that country’s declaration of war on Hamas. More than 2,800 people have been killed in the hostilities so far.
UPDATED — Oct. 14, 2023 — This story has been updated to reflect a more recent statement by the Israel Defense Forces.
