In a question-and-answer document released on Thursday, the group said that it “verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border”.

White phosphorus, according to HRW, “has the potential to cause civilian harm due to the severe burns it causes and its lingering long-term effects on survivors.”

“Its use in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law that parties to the conflict take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life”.

White phosphorus “causes severe burns, often down to the bone, that are slow to heal and likely to develop infections,” the report reads.

This is not the first time Israel has used white phosphorus in a war against the besieged Gaza Strip.

archive: https://archive.ph/aJhmK#selection-1209.0-1215.101

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[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 56 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, using WP in general is not a war crime, but that's because it's usually used for illumination in large open fields, not in densely-populated urban centers.

Using WP over Gaza is. There is no way to avoid civilian casualties when using WP over Gaza because of how densely populated it is. There is no way to know who will suffer, how many, or for how long. All we know is that they definitely won't get the medical treatment they need because Netanyahu's government has been preventing humanitarian aid from coming in, prevented them from having access to food or clean water, and shut down their access to electricity.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It's not the Geneva checklist. Also the only legitimate use for WP is illumination or smokescreen and I guaranfuckingtee Israel doesn't need either for actions against a city.

[–] zerfuffle@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

They need it for illumination because they cut all power to the city /s

[–] kbotc@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So far it’s been used over the water (illumination of ships) and near the Lebanon border as a smokescreen. It’s literally in the linked article.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Israel’s military said on Friday that it was “currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorus in Gaza”.

If the uses are legal (unlike in 2009), why are they denying using WP (like in 2009)?

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago

Also don't know why they'd need to use it as a weapon when they've also shown they're happy to just drop fucking massive bombs on them... Why beat about the bush with WP?

[+] sab@kbin.social -6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Chemical warfare is fucking great when you intend to move in after - traditional bombs are too messy and destroy too much property.

The logic is similar to Dead Kennedys' take on the neutron bomb in their aptly named song Kill the Poor:

Efficiency and progress is ours once more
Now that we have the neutron bomb
It's nice and quick and clean and gets things done
Away with excess enemy
But no less value to property
No sense in war but perfect sense at home

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

By legitimate I meant legal. WP is absolutely great for a number of other things that are supposedly frowned upon in modern combat.

[–] yoz@aussie.zone 15 points 1 year ago

Fuck human beings.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It’s just history repeating itself. Israel keeps on pulling this same trick every now and then.

Here’s an example from 2009, and here’s another one from 2006.

[–] Tom_bishop@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7TaLjdXMc Spec ops game take on this weapon