War Tactics or Violations? Deadly White Phosphorus Usage by Israel in Lebanon Sparks Outrage
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Raven Ruma - . December 5, 2024
- . Update: December 5, 2024 8:45 pm
In southern Lebanon Israel has heavily deployed white phosphorus to a strip that lines up with a region its army has designated as a red “no go” area on maps and it gives warning to Lebanese citizens that not to go back to their houses in that area.
According to experts, Israel was using white phosphorus and other measures were taken by Israel to make the region uninhabitable.
Data gathered by Lebanese researcher Ahmad Baydoun and environmental activist group Green Southerners shows that since October 8th 2023, 191 white phosphorus attacks have been used which is a “banned weapon” to use in war and it targets more than 918 hectares (2,268 acres).
Since then Israel and the Lebanese organization Hezbollah have engaged in an unbalanced strike exchange with at least four Israeli attacks for every Lebanese attack.
Streaks of thick white smoke containing phosphorus oxides are released when white phosphorus weapons ignite when exposed to oxygen at temperatures higher than 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
Until the white phosphorus is completely oxidized or oxygen deprived, the flaming particles will keep burning on plants, buildings andeven through human flesh.
According to rights groups, Israel has violated international humanitarian law by using white phosphorus ammunition over inhabited areas rather than battlefields in Gaza and Lebanon. But Israel is claiming that it uses them to create a smokescreen on the battlefield.
As of June 2024, the explosives “were unlawfully used over populated residential areas” in at least five incidents as stated by the Human Rights Watch.
According to Baydoun’s research, Israel has been using white phosphorus in southern Lebanon concentrating its efforts and intensifying them throughout the early months of the conflict. The assaults in 2023 were most intense in the first two months, October (45 white phosphorus shells) and November (44) with 99 out of 199 white phosphorus strikes.
The white phosphorus usage by Israel already destroyed hundreds of hectares of land including tens of thousands of olive trees.
