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[Luis Paulo Vieira Braga]

Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza civilian areas

Lumps of still smouldering white phosphorus found in Gaza City

© Amnesty International



Amnesty International fact-finding team investigates white phosphorus use in 
Gaza City

© Amnesty International


19 January 2009 

The Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary 
effect, in densely populated civilian residential areas of Gaza City, 
according to indisputable evidence found an Amnesty International fact-
finding team which reached the area last Saturday.

When white phosphorus lands on skin it burns deeply through muscle and into 
the bone, continuing to burn until deprived of oxygen. 

Amnesty International’s delegates found still-burning white phosphorus 
wedges all around residential buildings on Sunday. These wedges were further 
endangering the residents and their property; streets and alleys are full of 
children playing, drawn to the detritus of war and often unaware of the 
danger. 

The carrier shells which delivered the wedges were also still lying in and 
around houses and buildings. Some of these heavy steel 155mm shells have 
caused extensive damage to residential properties.

"Yesterday, we saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use 
of white phosphorus, including still burning wedges and the remnants of the 
shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," said Christopher Cobb-
Smith, a weapons expert who is in Gaza as part of the four-person Amnesty 
International team.

"White phosphorus is a weapon intended to provide a smokescreen for troop 
movements on the battlefield," said Cobb-Smith. "It is highly incendiary, 
air burst and its spread effect is such that it that should never be used on 
civilian areas.”

Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s researcher on Israel and the Occupied 
Palestinian Territories said that such extensive use of this weapon in 
Gaza's densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently 
indiscriminate. "Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its 
indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," she said

When each 155mm artillery shell bursts, it deploys 116 wedges impregnated 
with white phosphorus which ignite on contact with oxygen and can scatter, 
depending on the height at which it is burst (and wind conditions), over an 
area at least the size of a football pitch. In addition to the 
indiscriminate effect of air-bursting such a weapon, firing such shells as 
artillery exacerbates the likelihood that civilians will be affected.

"Artillery is an area weapon; not good for pinpoint targeting. The fact that 
these munitions, which are usually used as ground burst, were fired as air 
bursts increases the likely size of the danger area,” said Chris Cobb-Smith.

Among the places worst affected by the use of white phosphorus was the UNRWA 
compound in Gaza City, at which Israeli forces fired three white phosphorus 
shells on 15 January. The white phosphorus landed next to some fuel trucks 
and caused a large fire which destroyed tons of humanitarian aid.

Prior to this strike, the compound had already been hit an hour earlier and 
the Israeli authorities had been informed by UNRWA officials and had given 
assurance that no further strikes would be launched on the compound.

In another incident on the same day a white phosphorus shell landed in the 
al-Quds hospital in Gaza City also causing a fire that forced hospital staff 
to evacuate the patients. 


SE O HAMAS E ISRAEL PAGASSEM PELA MUNIÇÃO E ARMAS QUE USAM, A GUERRA JÁ 
TERIA ACABADO HÁ MUITO TEMPO. MAS ENQUANTO ELAS CONTINUAREM FLUINDO 
GRATUITAMENTE ( NA VERDADE ÀS CUSTAS DOS CIDADÃOS IRANIANOS E AMERICANOS) 
VAMOS CONTINUAR A VER BARBARIDADES COMO A DESCRITA PELA ANISTIA 
INTERNACIONAL.


Prof. Luis Paulo
C.P. 2386
20001-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ

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