Israel Is Using White Phosphorus in Gaza, Says Human Rights Watch

Israel has been using white phosphorus in its ongoing military operations in Gaza, putting civilians at unnecessary risk in what amounts to a breach of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch has said.

The rights group said that it verified footage taken in Lebanon on Tuesday and in Gaza on Wednesday showing multiple instances of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port, and at two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The use of white phosphorus – which burns when exposed to oxygen, creating intense heat and smoke – is not banned outright in warzones under international law. The substance can be legally used on battlefields for marking targets, creating smoke screens or other purposes. 

But its use near civilians is prohibited under Protocol III of the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons – although Israel has not signed the convention and is therefore not bound by it.

Human Rights Watch said the use of the white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, violated the prohibitions in international humanitarian law against putting civilians at unnecessary risk.

“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, the group’s Middle East and North Africa director. “White phosphorus is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”

The group said Israel should ban the use of “airburst” white phosphorus munitions in populated areas, adding that there were non-lethal alternatives.

Human Rights Watch said that as well as verifying a video of the use of airburst 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles above Gaza City, it had interviewed two witnesses in the city who had described seeing and smelling phenomena consistent with white phosphorus.

The groups said it had also reviewed two videos from different locations near the Israel-Lebanon border which showed white phosphorus artillery projectiles being used, apparently to create smokescreens, or for marking targets or signalling.

In response to the report, Israel's military told Reuters that it was “currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorus in Gaza,” and did not address questions around their alleged use in Lebanon.