What exactly is the controversial white phosphorus allegedly used by Israel in their Gaza attacks?

SHAH ALAM - The use of white phosphorus in Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon has placed innocent civilians at grave risk, subjecting them to the threat of severe and long-lasting injuries.

White phosphorus, notorious for causing excruciating burns and having the capacity to set homes ablaze, makes its deployment in populated regions a clear violation of the law.

What is white phosphorus?

White phosphorus is a chemical that burns when it's in things like artillery shells, bombs, and rockets and comes into contact with air. This burning gets incredibly hot, up to around 815 degrees Celsius. It's used by the military to create bright lights and thick smoke, but it can hurt people if it touches them.

Even though it's not considered a chemical weapon, it's dangerous because it's all about heat and flames, not poison. They spread white phosphorus by soaking pieces of fabric in it, and it has a smell that's similar to garlic.

How is white phosphorus used?

White phosphorus is mainly used to hide soldiers and their movements in the military. It makes smoke screens that can hide troops in the daytime or nighttime. It also messes up the special cameras and tracking systems that some weapons use, which helps protect soldiers from guided missiles like anti-tank missiles.

White phosphorus can be used in the air to cover a big area and hide a lot of troops. But this also means it can spread its fiery effects over a larger space, which can be more dangerous for people, especially in crowded places like Gaza.

On the other hand, if it's used on the ground, it creates a smaller danger zone and a smoke screen that lasts longer. How long the white phosphorus smoke stays in the air depends on the weather, so it's hard to give a specific time.

White phosphorus can also be used as a weapon that starts fires. In 2004, U.S. forces used it in Iraq during a battle to force hidden enemy fighters to come out into the open, where they could be fought.

What harm does white phosphorus cause?

White phosphorus causes very bad burns that go deep, sometimes all the way to the bone. These burns take a long time to heal and can easily get infected.

If even tiny bits of white phosphorus are left inside a burn, they can make the injury worse when they touch the air again. Burns on just 10% of the body can be deadly, and it can also hurt your breathing and make your organs stop working.

People who survive white phosphorus injuries often face a lifetime of pain and difficulty. Their muscles and other body tissues can tighten up and make it hard to move, which is called contractures.

The physical and emotional pain from the attack, along with painful medical treatments and scars, can make them feel very sad and left out by others.

The fires caused by white phosphorus can destroy buildings and things people own, like houses and farms, and hurt crops and animals.

In places where there aren't many doctors and hospitals, it's even harder to help people with bad burns. This makes things even tougher for the healthcare workers there.

What is the status of white phosphorus under international law?

Weapons with white phosphorus are considered incendiary weapons when used in warfare. Even though there's no clear international law that bans these weapons, there's a rule in international law that says countries have to do their best to keep civilians safe when using them.

Incendiary weapons are regulated by Protocol III to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). It's important to know that Palestine and Lebanon have agreed to follow this protocol, but Israel has not. This protocol clearly says you can't drop incendiary weapons from the air in places where there are many civilians. However, there are two big exceptions in these rules.

First, these rules only limit some ground-based weapons that can start fires in areas with lots of civilians, like white phosphorus artillery in Gaza.

Second, the rules say these weapons should be made mainly to start fires and hurt people, which might not cover multipurpose weapons like those with white phosphorus when used to make smoke screens, even if they end up starting fires.

Many countries in the CCW and Human Rights Watch have suggested making these rules stronger and closing these gaps.

Human Rights Watch backs the idea that CCW member countries should talk about how well Protocol III is working during their meeting in November 2023.

What has been Israel’s past policy and practice regarding white phosphorus?

Between Dec 27, 2008, and Jan 18, 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military used around 200 ground-launched white phosphorus munitions in crowded parts of Gaza. They mainly used 155mm M825E1 artillery shells that released burning phosphorus in a big area.

Even though Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry said they used these shells just to make smoke screens, Human Rights Watch found six cases with civilian injuries. Also, the white phosphorus munitions damaged civilian buildings like a school, a market, a warehouse for humanitarian aid, and a hospital.

These attacks got criticised both in Israel and around the world. In 2013, after a legal petition about the Gaza attacks, the Israeli military said they wouldn't use white phosphorus in crowded areas, except in two situations they only told the judges about.

One of the judges, Justice Edna Arbel, made it clear that these conditions would make it very rare to use white phosphorus in very specific cases. Even though this promise in court wasn't an official change in policy, Justice Arbel asked the Israeli military to do a careful review and make a new, lasting rule.

In 2013, the Israeli military said they wanted to make new smoke shells that didn't have white phosphorus. They said they would keep using and storing white phosphorus shells until they had better alternatives. They also planned to replace the old smoke shells with these new ones for making smoke screens, but that depended on how well they could develop them.