UPDATED ON:
Sunday, January 11, 2009
07:16 Mecca time, 04:16 GMT
News Middle East
Israel 'using white phosphorus'
White phophorus, fired in a shell, can be used to hide troop movements or
illuminate targets [AFP]
Human Rights Watch has called on Israel to stop using white phosphorus which it
says has been used in military operations in the densely populated Gaza Strip.
The US-based group said that its researchers observed the use of the chemical,
which can burn away human flesh to the bone, over Gaza City and Jabaliya on
Friday and Saturday.
"We went by Israeli artillery units that had white phosphorus rounds with the
fuses in them," Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch,
told Al Jazeera.
"Clearly it is [white phosphorus], we can tell by the explosions and the
tendrils that go down [and] the fires that were burning," he said.
"Today there were massive attacks in Jabaliya when we were there. We saw that
there were numerous fires once the white phosphorus had gone in."
'Obscurant'
International law permits the use of white phopshorus as an "obscurant" to
cover troop movements and prevent enemies from using certain guided weapons,
but its use is controversial as it can injure people through painful chemical
burns.
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"Even if they are using it as an obscurant, they are using it in a very densely
populated area," Garlasco said.
"The problem is it covers such a wide area that when the white phosphorus
wafers come down, over 100 in each artillery shell, they burn everything they
touch and they don't stop burning until they are done.
"You are talking about skin damage, potentially homes going on fire, damage to
infrastructure."
Human Rights Watch said that it believed the use of the chemical in Gaza
violated the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all
feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life.
The Israeli military has previously denied using white phosphorus during the
15-day offensive in the Gaza Strip, but has said that any munitions that it
does use comply with international law.
Israel used white phophorus during its 34-day war against Lebanon's Hezbollah
movement in 2006, while the United States used it during the controversial
siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 7
seph
Philippines 11/01/2009
Israel "the true radical and genocide nation"
Israel is the one who must be put under pressure and sanction by the
international community and not countries like Iraq and Iran. Israel and US has
used illegal biological weapon in an actual war, while the Iraq and Iran have
never really fired one. These weapons are just like nuclear weapons. It's
illegal and inhumane. The international community mustn't let like this country
to continue roaming and functioning. Who knows? Your country might be the next
nagasaki or hiroshima....
hafsa
United States 11/01/2009
what can i say? the muslim world is whaching and relaxing while the palestinian
people are suffuring.
Linda
United States 11/01/2009
White phosphorus reported from Gaza
I've been hearing reports of this directly from Gaza almost all week, just as
we (US) used in Fallujah. Also reporting something IDF using affecting the
population's breathing. Doctors, hospital staff reporting skin wounds on
children, etc., that ID phosphurus. Undoubtedly a war crime, used on captive
civilians.
Karim
United States 11/01/2009
How can you say the Israelis are using white phosphorous when no news agency
has been allowed into Gaza? How can anyone independently verify that?
Joe
Australia 11/01/2009
Criminals
What else can be expected. It seems that they did not learn anything from the
Holocaust. Now they are applying the same kind of extermination to the
Palestinians.
Mohamed Adham
Sri Lanka 11/01/2009
ISRAEL USING PHOSPHORUS
Wont the world at least , condemn the use of these heinous weapons by the
Israelis against Civilian targets? Or is this okay as long as it not used
against Jews or people from the Western world? I am truly astonished about this
god given right to the Israelis to do anything and get away with anything.
Where are the democracies in the world, where are the Human Rights people,
where is Amnesty International? Where?
Hussain
India 11/01/2009
Israel using white phosphorus
Under the Geneva Conventions, which are the statutory implementation of the
customary laws of war, it is forbidden to deliberately attack civilians or
bona-fide civilian structures, dwellings, and places used for civilian
purposes, such as hospitals, religious structures, and schools. It therefore
follows that the use of any form of weapon to deliberately attack civilians or
deliberately attack unquestionably civilian targets unoccupied by military
forces is a war crime.
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