Israel: Stop Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
Chemical ?Obscurant? Poses Serious Risk to Civilians
January 10, 2009

?White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when
it touches the skin. Israel should not use it in Gaza?s densely
populated areas.?
Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst

Related Materials: Q & A on Israel?s Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
(Jerusalem) ? Israel should stop using white phosphorus in military
operations in densely populated areas of Gaza, Human Rights Watch said
today. On January 9 and 10, 2009, Human Rights Watch researchers in
Israel observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus
over what appeared to be the Gaza City/Jabaliya area.

Israel appeared to be using white phosphorus as an ?obscurant? (a
chemical used to hide military operations), a permissible use in
principle under international humanitarian law (the laws of war).
However, white phosphorus has a significant, incidental, incendiary
effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and
other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The potential for harm
to civilians is magnified by Gaza?s high population density, among the
highest in the world.

?White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when
it touches the skin,? said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at
Human Rights Watch. ?Israel should not use it in Gaza?s densely
populated areas.?

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus in densely
populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international
humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian
injury and loss of life. This concern is amplified given the technique
evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting white phosphorus
projectiles. Air bursting of white phosphorus artillery spreads 116
burning wafers over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter,
depending on the altitude of the burst, thereby exposing more civilians
and civilian infrastructure to potential harm than a localized ground
burst.

Since the beginning of Israel?s ground offensive in Gaza on January 3,
2009, there have been numerous media reports about the possible use of
white phosphorous by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF told both
Human Rights Watch and news reporters that it is not using white
phosphorus in Gaza. On January 7, an IDF spokesman told CNN, ?I can
tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being
used.?

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