Rafah death toll surges as Israel rains down white phosphorus [May 8, 2024 | The Cradle]
Rafah death toll surges as Israel rains down white phosphorus [May 8, 2024 | The Cradle]
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15158511
“Overnight and into the early hours of the morning, the Israeli military continued to pound parts of eastern Rafah city,” Al Jazeera reported, adding that health facilities in Rafah are unable to accommodate large numbers of casualties.
The Israeli army has repeatedly used white phosphorus on civilians in Gaza and Lebanon since the start of the war. Rights groups have called for an urgent investigation after several Palestinian corpses were found vaporized in Gaza, suggesting Israel’s possible use of illegal thermobaric weapons to target civilians.
The UN has warned that Israel’s ongoing operation at the Rafah crossing threatens to seriously hinder humanitarian aid efforts.
A four-month-old baby, a six-year-old, and an eight-year-old were killed by an Israeli bombing on the Qishta family home in Rafah on Tuesday afternoon. One man was also killed in an airstrike near the Rafah border crossing.
That's like a warcrime type guy, right?
It's not a war crime if everyone else dies
loophole!
White phosphorus is frequently used in smoke munitions, where it is not prohibited by international law. Additionally, a thermobaric weapon is another name for a fuel-air bomb, where an explosive is dispersed in the air and then the whole cloud is ignited, creating a large explosion. Thermobaric weapons are not banned, and have nothing to do with WP.
I'm making no claims about the IDF using or not using WP on civilians, which is illegal, but simply pointing out the misleading use of buzzwords in this summary.
White phosphorus is restricted under international law. If it is being used in Gaza that is a war crime.
The usage of white phosphorus is restricted under international humanitarian law. Although there can be lawful uses, it must never be fired at, or in close proximity to, a populated civilian area or civilian infrastructure, due to the high likelihood that the fires and smoke it causes spread. Such attacks, which fail to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects and fighters and military objectives, are indiscriminate and thus prohibited. - Amnesty International
It's a little more complicated than that.
That is specific to incendiary munitions, where the WP is used for its flame effects. WP also happens to be what makes tracer rounds glow as they fly through the air. Because the risk of fire is very low, this is an example of a usage that is not banned, even in civilian areas.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Certain_Conventional_Weapons
https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?chapter=26&clang=_en&mtdsg_no=XXVI-2&src=TREATY
Protocol 3 is what you're looking for.