The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has announced that it will abandon the use of white phosphorus, a chemical weapon that it previously had denied using during military operations, including Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 against Gaza. Most countries have long stopped manufacturing or using the chemical because of the serious damage it can inflict on civilians, such as burns to the skin and potentially fatal damage to the respiratory system.
First reported by Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper, the IDF announcement marked a major reversal of policy. Reportedly, the shift came not because of international conventions banning its use, but because white phosphorus “doesn’t photograph well.”
A senior IDF officer in the ground forces explained during a recent statement saying, “As we learned during Cast Lead, [white phosphorus] doesn’t photograph well, so we are reducing the supply and we will not purchase beyond what we already have.” White phosphorus is generally used as a smokescreen to hide troop movements.
The Israeli Army issued a statement this week saying it will be replacing the incendiary shells with gas-based shells for smoke-screening.
The IDF has come under intense international scrutiny for the use of white phosphorus, most recently during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009. The operation, aimed at routing Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed groups launching rockets into Israel, resulted in the deaths of 13 Israelis and an estimated 1,100 to 1,400 Palestinians in the Gaza strip. At least 12 of the civilians killed on the Palestinian side were burned by white phosphorus, including three women, six children and a 15-month-old baby girl.
Images of disfigured Palestinians didn’t bode well for Israel as it came under scrutiny from human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) stating, “Israel deliberately or recklessly used white phosphorus shells in violation of the laws of war, causing needless civilian deaths.”
This opposition was echoed by many medical organizations, including the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, who condemned the use of white phosphorus in a statement:
“On contact with skin, white phosphorus causes painful and deep chemical burns, often extending to bone that are very slow to heal. Such burns, or the inhalation of white phosphorus droplets that can cause severe damage to the airways, are often fatal.”
Israel obtained much of its white phosphorus rounds from the United States, which is one of the few nations in the world that still produces this type of chemical weaponry.
Most countries abandoned production and use of white phosphorus in 1980 when the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons was signed and ratified by 115 UN member countries.
The international convention bans the use of white phosphorus in populated areas, especially those with large civilian populations. Signatory countries are technically still allowed to use white phosphorus in rural or vacant areas. With 1.5 million living in an eight square mile area, Gaza is a densely populated area with a large civilian population.