• Source:JND
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As Israel continued pounding targets in Gaza following the surprise land-sea-air assault on its territories by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday said that Israel was using white phosphorous bombs in Gaza and Lebanon, putting civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries.

However, the Israeli military on Friday refuted Human Rights Watch report and clarified that it has made no use of white phosphorous in its war against Gaza this week.

"The current accusation made against the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false," it said in a statement.

The rights group said that it verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11 showing “multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.”

For many years, Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory under Israeli blockade. In the deadliest attack since 1948, the fighting between Israel and Hamas has reportedly killed over 1,200 people in Israel and 1,400 people in Gaza.

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The HRW also emphasised that using the chemical in densely populated areas of Gaza violates international humanitarian law and urged precautions to avoid civilian injury and casualty.

What Are White Phosphorous Bombs?

White phosphorous is a lethal chemical that burns quickly and brightly when exposed to air. It can cause fast-moving and widespread ground fires.

A wax-like substance, that burns at more than 800 degrees Celsius (nearly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit), can ignite fast-spreading fires and thick smoke. It can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other objects on fire.

Is White Phosphorous Banned?

White phosphorous is not banned by international conventions despite its incendiary properties. However, it is banned for use near civilians.

It is legal to use white phosphorous weapons on battlefields to create smoke screens, mark targets, generate illumination, or burn buildings and bunkers.

Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons only prohibits the use of incendiaries and other substances against civilian populations.

In 1972, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution 1972 calling incendiary weapons a "category of arms viewed with horror."

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch emphasised that the use of White phosphorous in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, increases the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk.

“The use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk,” the rights body said.

Countries That Used Phosporous Weapons

- The Israeli military has been using white phosphorous in Palestinian territories in past conflicts in Gaza, including in the 2009 conflict.

- In 2022, Russia was accused of using phosphorous bombs in Bakhmut during the Ukraine war.

- Russia has also accused Ukraine's army of using phosphorous against Russia-backed separatists in the eastern Donbas region in 2014.

- In 2004, during the first battle of Fallujah, US forces were accused of using White phosphorous. However, the US Embassy in Rome refuted claims that US troops had used white phosphorus as a weapon.

- During the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel claimed that phosphorus shells were fired "against military targets in open ground" in south Lebanon. Israel emphasised that the use of these munitions was permitted under international conventions.

- Armenia and Azerbaijan have also accused each other of bombing civilian areas or using prohibited phosphorus munitions in their 2020 conflict over Nagorny Karabakh.