2023-10-31 16:36:44
©AP Photo/Hussein Malla
“The Israeli army launched artillery shells containing white phosphorus – an incendiary weapon – in military operations along Lebanon’s southern border between October 10 and 16, 2023.Amnesty International said today. “An attack on the town of Dhayra on October 16 should be investigated as a war crime because it was an indiscriminate attack that injured at least nine civilians and caused damage to civilian property, and was therefore illegitimate,” the statement said. organization.
Cross-border hostilities in southern Lebanon have escalated significantly since October 7. So far, Israel’s bombing of Lebanon has caused death of at least four civilians and 48 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah and other armed groups have also launched rockets into northern Israel, which the Israeli military says have killed six Israeli soldiers and one person. civil. Amnesty International is investigating attacks by Hezbollah and other armed groups against northern Israel to determine whether they have violated international humanitarian law.
“It is beyond appalling that the Israeli military has indiscriminately used white phosphorus in violation of international humanitarian law. The illegitimate use of white phosphorus in Lebanon, in the town of Dhayra, on October 16, has seriously endangered the lives of the civilian population: many people had to be hospitalized and were displaced, and their homes and cars caught fire”said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“As concerns grow over escalating hostilities in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military must immediately stop the use of white phosphorus, especially in populated areas, in line with its forgotten 2013 commitment to stop using these weapons. “You must fulfill your commitment and stop endangering the lives of the civilian population in Lebanon.”
The use of white phosphorus is restricted under international humanitarian law. Although it may have legitimate uses, it should never be launched near or against a populated civilian area or civilian infrastructure due to the high likelihood of the fire and smoke spread it causes. These types of attacks, in which no distinction is made between civilians and combatants or between civilian objects and military objectives, are indiscriminate and, therefore, prohibited.
White phosphorus is an incendiary substance that is primarily used to create a dense smoke screen or mark targets. It burns at extremely high temperatures in contact with air and often causes fires in areas where it is deployed. People exposed to white phosphorus can suffer respiratory damage, organ failure, and other horrific, life-changing injuries, including burns that are extremely difficult to treat and cannot be extinguished with water. Burns that affect only 10% of the body are often fatal.
The body of evidence analyzed by Amnesty International indicates that Israel used white phosphorus smoke artillery shells during an attack on the southern border town of Dhayra, a populated civilian area. Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory has verified videos and photos showing the use of white phosphorus smoke artillery shells in Dhayra on 16 October. Amnesty International’s research team interviewed the mayor of Dhayra, a resident of Dhayra, a member of first responders who facilitated the transfer of wounded civilians to a nearby hospital, and a doctor who worked in the emergency service. emergencies of the hospital that received them.
The team also gathered strong evidence indicating the use of white phosphorus in three other incidents between October 10 and 16, in Dhayra and the border towns of Al Mari and Aita al Chaab, by verifying videos and photos of these attacks.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory verified video showing plumes of smoke dispersed by artillery consistent with white phosphorus munitions on 16 October in Dhayra.
Dr Haitham Nisr, an emergency doctor at the Italian-Lebanese hospital, told Amnesty International that on 16 and 17 October, medical teams treated nine people from the towns of Dhayra, Yarine and Marwahin who had breathing difficulties and cough. which, he said, were due to inhalation of white phosphorus. Most of these people were discharged from the hospital the same day, he said.
The regional director of the Lebanese Civil Defense, Ali Safieddine, who facilitated the transfer of injured civilians to the hospital on 16 October and the subsequent evacuation of the town on 17 October, told Amnesty International that the Civil Defense received calls for help of residents who reported “bombs that produce a very bad smell and cause suffocation when inhaled” […] “Four members of our staff, as well as several people residing in Dhayra, were admitted to a hospital due to asphyxiation in recent days.”
“We couldn’t even see our hands due to the dense white smoke that covered the town all night and lasted until this morning [17 de octubre]“Ali Saffiedine told Amnesty International. This description is compatible with white phosphorus, which produces dense white smoke and a garlic-like odor.
According to the mayor of Dhayra, Abdullah al Ghrayyeb, the shelling of the area, which used white phosphorus, began around 4:00 p.m. local time on October 16 and continued into the night.
“A very unpleasant smell and a gigantic cloud covered the town and we could not see further than five or six meters. This caused people to desperately flee their homes. And when some people returned two days later, their houses were still burning. The cars caught fire. Land was also burned. We continue to find remains even today – the size of a fist – that re-ignite upon contact with air,” Abdullah al Ghrayyeb told Amnesty International.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory analyzed a video showing a hardened wedge of white phosphorus re-igniting in the yard of a home after being touched by a stone. According to Al Ghrayyeb, the resident recorded the video on October 25, nine days after Dhayra had been bombed with white phosphorus. White phosphorus can ignite again upon contact with oxygen even weeks after being deployed.
Under international humanitarian law, all parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish combatants and military targets from civilians and civilian objects, and launch attacks only against the former. Indiscriminate attacks—those that do not distinguish, as required, between civilian objects and military objectives—are prohibited. The launching of a targeted attack that causes death or injury to the civilian population, damage to civilian objects, or both, constitutes a war crime.
Therefore, white phosphorus should never be used in areas populated by civilians due to the high probability of spreading fire and smoke, which would make these types of attacks indiscriminate. This attack on Dhayra, which caused injuries to civilians and damage to civilian property, was indiscriminate and therefore illegitimate. It should be investigated as a war crime.
Additionally, Amnesty International verified a video filmed in Dhayra dated 13 October showing plumes of smoke dispersed by artillery consistent with white phosphorus munitions. He also analyzed images filmed by a journalist on October 10 in Dhayra which appear to show the release of white phosphorus that ignites upon contact with air.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory also verified footage showing the shelling of the border town of Aita al Chaab and near the town of Al Mari in southern Lebanon.
Two videos verified by Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory recorded on 10 October around Al Mari show burning wedges descending to the ground and causing widespread fires, almost certainly indicating the use of white phosphorus.
Amnesty International also verified a video and five photos showing the bombing of Aita al Chaab on 15 October, which most likely showed the use of a mixture of white phosphorus shells and standard high-explosive artillery shells.
Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory verified photos taken by AFP photography professionals on October 18 near the Lebanese border. These photos show some 155mm white phosphorus smoke ammunition shells lined up for use alongside Israeli Army M109 howitzers. These projectiles have a characteristic pale green color and red and yellow bands, as well as the legend M825A1 and D528, respectively, which is the projectile nomenclature and the US Department of Defense identification code (DODIC) for phosphorus-based ammunition. bench, as Amnesty International has already documented near the Gaza fence. Although these are US codes and nomenclatures, Amnesty International cannot confirm where these projectiles were manufactured.
White phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon because it acts primarily through the action of flames and heat, and not through toxicity, making it an incendiary weapon. Its use is governed by Protocol III of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons That May Be Considered Excessively Harmful or Having Indiscriminate Effects, to which Lebanon acceded in 2017, but Israel did not.
Protocol III prohibits the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons anywhere where there is a “gathering of civilians” and limits the legitimate use of non-air-delivered incendiary weapons—such as the artillery documented here—in the presence of a concentration of civilians. The Protocol defines incendiary weapons as “any weapon or ammunition primarily designed” to set objects on fire or cause burns to people and excludes their use for other purposes, for example as smoke screens.
Cross-border hostilities have intensified since attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which Hamas and other armed groups killed at least 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages — mostly civilians — according to authorities. Israelis; Israeli forces have launched thousands of air and ground attacks against the Gaza Strip and have killed more than 8,000 people, most of them civilians, including at least 2,704 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Loop. More than 17,439 people have been injured and more than 2,000 bodies remain trapped under the rubble, while the health sector collapses.
In October, Amnesty International documented the use of white phosphorus artillery shells by the Israeli army in densely populated civilian areas of Gaza. Some of these attacks could be considered indiscriminate attacks and therefore illegitimate. On October 14, Israeli authorities denied that they had used white phosphorus in their military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
According to the International Organization for Migration, as of October 27, almost 20,000 residents of southern Lebanon have been displaced due to hostilities. Israeli authorities have also announced that they were evacuating 28 towns in northern Israel, along the border with Lebanon, affecting around 60,000 residents.
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