BEIRUT — Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found evidence Israel used white phosphorus in residential areas of southern Lebanon last week, in violation of international humanitarian law. In a new report released on Monday, the New York-based rights group said it confirmed the authenticity of seven photos showing white phosphorus munitions fired over a residential area in southern Lebanon’s Yohmor, with fires breaking out in at least two homes there on March 3. White phosphorus, a substance that ignites on contact with oxygen, can be used to create smokescreens and to illuminate battlefields. But the munition can also be used as an incendiary weapon and can cause fires, horrific burns, respiratory damage, organ failure and death. Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher with HRW, said, “The Israeli military’s unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians.” “The incendiary effects of white phosphorus can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering,” he added. HRW verified and geolocated an image posted online by Lebanese media on the morning of March 3. It showed at least two artillery-delivered white phosphorus munitions being airburst over a residential neighbourhood. The shape of the smoke cloud caused by the airbursts was consistent with the “knuckle” made by the expelling and bursting charges of the M825-series 155mm artillery projectile that contains white phosphorus, it said in the report. It also verified and geolocated photographs posted to Facebook by the civil defence team of the Islamic Health Committee in Yohmor that showed workers extinguishing fires on residential rooftops and in a car. The group concluded the fire was likely caused by felt wedges impregnated with white phosphorus, given the proximity of the sites to the area where airburst munitions were observed. “Israel should immediately halt this practice and states providing Israel with weapons, including white phosphorus munitions, should immediately suspend military assistance and arms sales and push Israel to stop firing such munitions in residential areas,” Kaiss said. Israel, which kept up strikes targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire, launched multiple waves of strikes across Lebanon since last week and sent ground troops into border areas. The Israeli army has since repeatedly called on people living south of the Litani River, around 30 kilometers north of the Israeli border, to leave. More than half a million people have been registered as displaced in Lebanon as Israel issues forced displacement orders. Lebanon’s National News Agency said on Monday Israel carried out a series of air strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including between the neighbourhoods of Ghobeiry and Haret Hreik, and in the Safir area. The report comes hours after Israel’s military, which has been waging days of fierce attacks in southern Beirut, said it was attacking Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital. At least 394 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in Lebanon in Israeli attacks. HRW urged Israel’s key allies, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, to suspend military sales to Israel and impose targeted sanctions on officials credibly implicated in grave crimes. Israel had already used white phosphorus between October 2023 and May 2024 across border villages in southern Lebanon, the organisation said, putting civilians at grave risk. Last month, Lebanon accused Israel of spraying the herbicide glyphosate on the Lebanese side of their shared border, with President Joseph Aoun decrying it as a “crime against the environment.” — Agencies
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