1y ago

Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon

www.hrw.org Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon

Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus.

29 comments

I get that they're angry and want to retaliate, but uh... that's a War Crime. Right!??
- White phosphorus in general is not a war crime.
  General document for covering this is the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, in this particular case Protocol III, Article I §1(b)(i).
  Munitions which may have incidental incendiary effects, such as illuminants, tracers, smoke or signalling systems
  Of which White Phosphorus is typically within that category. It is incendiary and can randomly burn people, homes, and fields but the intended use is usually not to set fire but to provide cover, illumination, tracing, or signalling. There just happens to be a burning side effect that the UN usually shrugs off.
  How it's used however can become a war crime. Article II of the same Protocol § 2 and 3
  It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons.
  and
  It is further prohibited to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by means of incendiary weapons other than air-delivered incendiary weapons, except … and all feasible precautions are taken with a view to limiting the incendiary effects to the military objective…
  So basically, you cannot deliver via aircraft, which video indicates that these were ground launched 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles, so check on (2), BUT it's debatable that Israel followed (3) and took all precautions to minimize civilians getting in the way. But I mean, does anyone really believe the UN holds anyone to any kind of scrutiny?
  So… I hope that answers your question.
- Israel have been committing war crimes as long as they have existed
- But it's Israel so they'll never be held accountable.
- Using it against infantry targets is, but WP use by itself does not necessarily indicate a war crime
  It's commonly used by nations around the world to produce smoke for the purposes of concealment or signaling/marking
  I'm inclined to believe their intended use here are as artillery spotting rounds to guage whether fire is accurate or not, it's not like Israel doesn't have plenty of more effective conventional ways to kill people if that was their goal with these WP rounds
  I would probably call its usage in such a densely populated urban area reckless and callous at best but that's the name of the game in war unfortunately
  
  I'm pretty sure the reckless and callous use of it in a densely populated urban area is exactly what escalates it to war crime
  
  @trafficnab
  it’s not like Israel doesn’t have plenty of more effective conventional ways to kill people
  All modern militaries have other effective ways to kill people.
  However, killing civillians on purpose and maiming them with deep open wounds that are resource-intensive to treat is normally seen as a war crime, and a weapon that is openly designed for that would raise even more international condemnation.
  This is probably the reason we repeatedly see white phosphorus used against civilians in conflicts where permanent territorial occupation is a goal (other examples by Russia in Ukraine, by Indonesia in West Papua). It has a terrifying, catastrophic effect on members of the population, and there is (im)plausible deniability.
  The excuse of using it as a "smokescreen" really does act as, well, a smokescreen.
  
  Remember when they would intentionally shoot Palestinians in the knees instead of the body? I assume it's something like that.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV2VurgIhtw It's not, but it should be.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://www.piped.video/watch?v=sV2VurgIhtw
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- No shit sherlock

I would encourage anyone who is wondering whether it is a war crime to use white phosphorus in a densely populated civillian area to:
run a quick [search engine] image search for "white phosphorus injury".
- Just play Spec Ops: The Line
  
  @ChronosWing yikes, I think I'd rather just stick to Skyrim and online chess.

it's funny how double standards are in play when it comes to US and its propaganda guzzlers:
Some Uyghurs perform a terrorist act, China uses re-education camps
"China is genociding innocent people, China is our enemy #1 and i'll not so subtly hate anyone looking east asians"
Hamas performs terrorist act, Israel blocks aid and supply to the area of civilians that are literally in open prison
"They deserve it, please support them"
I mean extremely horrible are bad but you see the double standards.