Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus during its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and said that it puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries.
About White phosphorus
- White phosphorus is a colorless, white, or yellow waxy solid with a garlic-like odor.
- It does not occur naturally, but is manufactured from phosphate rocks.
- White phosphorus reacts rapidly with oxygen, easily catching fire at temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above room temperature.
- White phosphorus is used by the military in various types of ammunition, and to produce smoke for concealing troop movements and identifying targets.
- It is also used by industry to produce phosphoric acid and other chemicals for use in fertilizers, food additives, and cleaning compounds.
- Small amounts of white phosphorus were used in the past in pesticides and fireworks.
- White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.
- 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.
- Attacks using air-delivered incendiary weapons in civilian areas are prohibited under Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
- Protocol III applies only to weapons that are “primarily designed” to set fires or cause burns, and thus some countries believe it excludes certain multipurpose munitions with incendiary effects, notably those containing white phosphorus.
