We’re not using white phosphorus in Gaza, Israeli military denies allegation

The Israeli military said on Friday it has made no use of white phosphorus in its Gaza war this week, in an apparent denial of a Human Rights Watch report.

“The current accusation made against the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false,” it said in a statement.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged late on Thursday that it had verified Israel’s use of white phosphorus munitions through interviews and videos showing the chemical substance was fired on two locations along the Israel-Lebanon border and over the Gaza City port.

“White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians,” Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said in a statement.

The Israeli military’s response is an apparent denial of the rights group’s report.

White phosphorus is a wax-like, toxic substance that burns at more than 800 degrees Celsius (nearly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit) – high enough to melt metal.

Its ability to ignite fast-spreading fires and create thick smoke over wide areas has made white phosphorus a substance of choice for militaries to create smokescreens. The smoke tends to last for seven minutes.

It is often colourless, white or yellow, and has a garlic-like odour.

White phosphorus munitions are difficult to extinguish, continuing to flare until the phosphorous has been burned up or until it is no longer exposed to oxygen.

It can be deployed through artillery shells, bombs, rockets or grenades.

“Airbursting white phosphorus spreads the substance over a wide area, depending on the altitude of the burst, and it exposes more civilians and infrastructures than a localized ground burst,” Ahmed Benchemsi, communications director for HRW’s Middle East and North Africa Division, told Al Jazeera.

White phosphorus can burn the skin down to the bone, and the chemicals can be absorbed by the body, causing dysfunction in multiple organs, including the liver, kidneys and heart.

“The burns have a double effect. They have a local effect because of the burn itself, which is generally quite severe and very deep, and then the second effect is metabolic, which can kill the patients,” said Roman Hossein Khonsari, professor of maxillofacial surgery and plastic surgery at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris.

He said metabolic disorders can include abnormal potassium levels that cause heart failure.