Israel attacks Lebanon with white phosphorus, causing lasting damage: HRW | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

According to the IOM, more than 92,600 people were displaced from their villages in southern Lebanon by the attacks.

As Al Jazeera reported in March, Israel continues to use white phosphorus munitions in southern Lebanon, causing permanent damage and displacing villagers despite Israeli politicians threatening war on the country’s northern border.

A new report released on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) agrees, showing that white phosphorus attacks “put civilians at grave risk” and “contribute to displacement.”

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 92,600 people have been displaced from their villages in southern Lebanon since October 6.

“Israel’s use of white phosphorus aerial detonations in populated areas has indiscriminately harmed civilians and forced many to flee their homes,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW, in the report.

“Lucifer’s Jaw”

As part of its investigation, HRW also confirmed the use of white phosphorus munitions by the Israeli military in at least 17 communities in southern Lebanon since October 2023, when Israel’s war on Gaza began.

They confirmed the illegal use of air detonation munitions over populated residential areas in the municipalities of Kfar Kila, Meiss el-Jabal, Boustane, Markaba and Aita al-Shaab.

White phosphorus injuries can be very painful and necrotic. Oxides can reignite in the skin if burns are not covered promptly and kept covered to prevent any contact with oxygen.

Other symptoms may include severe breathing problems, acute lung damage, severe eye damage, second or third degree burns, or even severe bone diseases such as necrotic “Lucifer’s jaw.”

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 173 people were injured by contact with white phosphorus between October and the end of May.

These include confirmed cases of civilians who were hospitalized on October 15 due to suffocation after coming into contact with the phosphorus.

Cases of white phosphorus continued to be reported in June.

During an investigation into Israel’s use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon in March, Al Jazeera learned from Lebanese experts that Israel was trying to create a buffer zone by making the region uninhabitable and inaccessible for cultivation.

According to the United Nations, agriculture accounts for up to 80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in southern Lebanon.

Al Jazeera’s investigation found that Israel dropped 117 phosphorus bombs on southern Lebanon between October and March, hitting at least 32 towns and villages.

The affected area extended almost along the entire 100-kilometer-long southern border of Lebanon.

Israel’s repeated use of white phosphorus has drawn the ire of international human rights organizations. On March 19, Oxfam and HRW called on the Biden administration to “immediately stop arms sales to Israel.”

Loopholes in white phosphorus

The documented use of white phosphorus has led human rights organizations to renewed calls for the closure of legal loopholes that allow its use in populated areas.

“Israel’s widespread use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon underscores the need for stronger international law on incendiary weapons,” the HRW report said.

The HRW report called on Lebanon to submit a declaration to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to allow for an investigation and prosecution of “serious international crimes … committed on Lebanese territory since October 2023.”

Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC. The court would need a formal statement from one of the parties to conduct an investigation.

Lebanon recently backtracked on an earlier statement that it would transfer jurisdiction to the ICC to investigate Israeli war crimes on its territory after October 7.

In April, the Lebanese transitional government voted for the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to submit such a declaration of jurisdiction.

When the decision was overturned, some analysts speculated that the Lebanese parties were afraid that they too could be held liable in an ICC investigation.

Israel has used white phosphorus in Lebanon in the past, which observers say lends credence to the “buffer zone” theory.

“During the 1982 invasion, the Israeli army targeted civilians with white phosphorus, and since October 7, a lot of white phosphorus has been used in forests, plantations, olive and fruit trees,” Mohammad Hussein, chairman of the South Lebanese Agricultural Union, told Al Jazeera in March.

The use of white phosphorus munitions was also documented during the Israeli siege of West Beirut in 1982.

After human rights groups accused Israel of war crimes over the use of white phosphorus in the 2008/2009 Gaza offensive, the Israeli military announced that it would in future use the phosphorus as smoke munitions in built-up areas – with unspecified exceptions.

“Stronger international standards against the use of white phosphorus are needed to ensure that these weapons do not continue to pose a threat to civilians,” Kaiss said.

“Israel’s recent use of white phosphorus in Lebanon should motivate other countries to take immediate action to achieve this goal.”