HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SAYS IT VERIFIED ISRAELI USE OF WHITE PHOSPHORUS

Fri 13 October 2023:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that it confirmed the use of white phosphorus by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.

The rights group said it verified videos taken earlier this week “showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border”.

HRW said the weapon “has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire”.

It added that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated places like Gaza “magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk”.

Breaking: @hrw has confirmed—based on verified video & witness accounts—that Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza & Lebanon. White phosphorus causes excruciating burns—causing lifelong suffering—& can set homes afire. Its use in populated areas is unlawful https://t.co/AzN4bAHkau pic.twitter.com/USyi8fsOf9

— Omar Shakir (@OmarSShakir) October 12, 2023

White phosphorus, which can be used either for marking, signaling, and obscuring, or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects, has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. 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.

“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. “White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”

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 signaling.

White phosphorus ignites when exposed to atmospheric oxygen and continues to burn until it is deprived of oxygen or exhausted. Its chemical reaction can create intense heat (about 815°C/1,500°F), light, and smoke.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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