Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon

المنطقة عكف عفريت@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 276 points –
Human Rights Watch says Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza, Lebanon
reuters.com
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There is not a single sentence in the article that suggests that Israel is using phosphor as a weapon. As the article stated - it is routinely used as smokescreen or to mark areas.

Israel always says it uses it for that but there are numerous cases of them targeting civilians with it on purpose

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/questions-and-answers-israels-use-white-phosphorus-gaza-and-lebanon

It's good to look at the whole paragraph:

From December 27, 2008, to January 18, 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military fired approximately 200 ground-launched white phosphorus munitions into populated areas of Gaza. Israeli forces relied particularly on 155mm M825E1 artillery projectiles, which send burning phosphorus wedges 125 meters in all directions, giving them a broad area effect. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Israeli military used the shells only to create smokescreens. Whatever their ostensible purpose, however, Human Rights Watch found dozens of civilian casualties in the six incidents it documented. The white phosphorus shells also damaged civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse, and a hospital.

Israel always "says" something then "does" something totally different with it.

Look - HRW is a biased against Israel on principle. Unless there is a second impartial confirmation, you shouldn’t take anything they claim as anything but speculation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism\_of\_Human\_Rights\_Watch#Criticism\_regarding\_the\_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli\_conflict

How is the HRW biased against Israel? Back up that claim first.

How is the HRW biased against Israel? Back up that claim first.

So you have read the Wikipedia Article I included with my last post and don’t find it sufficient?

I read it. David Bernstein the comic book writer has an agenda against HRW. Also the criticisms do not dispute the accuracy of the reporting from HRW. Instead they attack the HRW for not siding with Israel.

Also there are personal attacks on the HRW investigator who accurately reported on WP because he called some piece of Nazi paraphernalia "cool" once.

No, sorry, I actually didn't for some reason.

And now that I have I'm even more convinced it's bullshit. Seems like Israel consistently wants to silence people report in on its war crimes.

By using it in a heavy populated area, using it as a smokescreen will cause huge damage to civilians, and they can't be treated easily.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/questions-and-answers-israels-use-white-phosphorus-gaza-and-lebanon

So what is the practical Alternative to create a smokescreen or mark an area that does not involve the use of white phosphor?

WP is ugly stuff, and militaries the world round use the '"It's just a smokescreen" excuse.

In every case, it's blatant lies. WP is useful as a smokescreen, but much more useful as a means of flushing people from cover. Conveniently, the process for blinding an enemy entrenched position with smoke and burning them out with WP is pretty similar, and governments love plausible deniability.

The pictures alone tell the story. The shells are air bursting which is better for shrapnel distribution, not smoke distribution. It's basically a giant neon sign saying they're committing war crimes.