Israel rains fire on Gaza with phosphorus shells

By Sheera Frenkel and Michael Evans
December 5, 2008
Times Online


Israel is believed to be using controversial white phosphorus shells to screen its assault on the heavily populated Gaza Strip yesterday. The weapon, used by British and US forces in Iraq, can cause horrific burns but is not illegal if used as a smokescreen.

As the Israeli army stormed to the edges of Gaza City and the Palestinian death toll topped 500, the tell-tale shells could be seen spreading tentacles of thick white smoke to cover the troops’ advance. “These explosions are fantastic looking, and produce a great deal of smoke that blinds the enemy so that our forces can move in,” said one Israeli security expert. Burning blobs of phosphorus would cause severe injuries to anyone caught beneath them and force would-be snipers or operators of remote-controlled booby traps to take cover. Israel admitted using white phosphorus during its 2006 war with Lebanon.

The use of the weapon in the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s mostly densely population areas, is likely to ignite yet more controversy over Israel’s offensive, in which more than 2,300 Palestinians have been wounded.

The Geneva Treaty of 1980 stipulates that white phosphorus should not be used as a weapon of war in civilian areas, but there is no blanket ban under international law on its use as a smokescreen or for illumination. However, Charles Heyman, a military expert and former major in the British Army, said: “If white phosphorus was deliberately fired at a crowd of people someone would end up in The Hague. White phosphorus is also a terror weapon. The descending blobs of phosphorus will burn when in contact with skin.”

The Israeli military last night denied using phosphorus, but refused to say what had been deployed. “Israel uses munitions that are allowed for under international law,” said Captain Ishai David, spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces. “We are pressing ahead with the second stage of operations, entering troops in the Gaza Strip to seize areas from which rockets are being launched into Israel.”

The civilian toll in the first 24 hours of the ground offensive — launched after a week of bombardment from air, land and sea— was at least 64 dead. Among those killed were five members of a family who died when an Israeli tank shell hit their car and a paramedic who died when a tank blasted his ambulance. Doctors at Gaza City’s main hospital said many women and children were among the dead and wounded.

The Israeli army also suffered its first fatality of the offensive when one of its soldiers was killed by mortar fire. More than 30 soldiers were wounded by mortars, mines and sniper fire.

Israel has brushed aside calls for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged territory, where medical supplies are running short.

With increasingly angry anti-Israeli protests spreading around the world, Gordon Brown described the violence in Gaza as “a dangerous moment”.

White phosphorus: the smoke-screen chemical that can burn to the bone

— White phosphorus bursts into a deep-yellow flame when it is exposed to oxygen, producing a thick white smoke

— It is used as a smokescreen or for incendiary devices, but can also be deployed as an anti-personnel flame compound capable of causing potentially fatal burns

— Phosphorus burns are almost always second or third-degree because the particles do not stop burning on contact with skin until they have entirely disappeared — it is not unknown for them to reach the bone

— Geneva conventions ban the use of phosphorus as an offensive weapon against civilians, but its use as a smokescreen is not prohibited by international law

— Israel previously used white phosphorus during its war with Lebanon in 2006

— It has been used frequently by British and US forces in recent wars, notably during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Its use was criticised widely

— White phosphorus has the slang name “Willy Pete”, which dates from the First World War. It was commonly used in the Vietnam era
Source: Times archives

 

First of all I don't know if that's true.----However no matter how Israel is defending itself,they still are using tremendous restraint.If any other country were in the same position as Israel is they would attack 10 times harder,and they would have done it a long time ago.If your going to go to war fight it right and to win.Israel should do anything and everything necessary to defend themselves and for Israels safety and wellbeing.If England or Australia or the US ,any country for that matter were in the same position as Israel the Palestinian problem and Hamas would be ancient history by now.

 

I agree. Let them go at it and have Iran and Israel exchange a couple nukes. There is nothing natural about either Israel or The Gaza Strip. It's a freak show.

 

I guarantee you Iran would love to nuke NY City,London and a number of other places,and would do so if they had full nuclear capabilties.

 

And your point? War is war, bubba. Make up your mind.

 

It shouldn't hit any civilians, because anyone who's a civilian has no business being outside of their house at times of war.

 

Is that what's keeping you indoors?

Bet the IDF has your number.

"Draft bait" is a term I haven't used since the mid 70's.

Then again, this isn't my war. It's yours.

Maybe you'll give us a report from the front in the near future? You'll know phosphorus when you smell it.

I expect the front will move in your direction soon.



x

 

BraveSirRubin is right,it should not be a problem if civilians stay in their homes in a time of war.Of course the Hamas cowards are clever and have no mercy so many will hide in civilians houses.Some freedom fighters those Hamas are-yeah right.I 'm sorry but a country cannot fight a totally 'clean', politically correct war,and should not be expected to.Casualties have always been a part of war.

 

Genocide, in slo mo.

War crimes by zio-nazis.


x

 

Its another bullshit issue, but the sheep are required to bleat about it.

WP is not a particularly effective weapon. Its not napalm, as the article says its mostly useful to create smoke. Its hard to imagine circumstances where WP would be more dangerous for civilians than standard HE.

 

Then we should examine other issues.

http://www.ksml.fi/mielipide/keskustelu/köyhdytettyä-uraania-löydetty-gazasta/324302



x

 

That's only because you are a victim of the media's endless BRAINWASHING campaign.

 

Fraid not,Pressed Rat. With the exception of the last few days,I NEVER view mainstream media,or for that matter much media at all.And by the way just as much junk is written on the internet(anyone can write anything).--I've had the good fortune to travel ,and in addition I lived in 2 countries outside the US for quite some time.--Also when I want acurate information I talk to people (intelligent people who will give me an honest view)from the very areas.In other words if I want to know about Scotland I talk to a Scotsman or woman etc. Anyhow this can go back and forth,I'm outta here.

 

hey rat,keep a eye out for news of a "major incident" that has had grave consequences..

this is all filtering in as we type..

needless to say just blurps off twitter etc.

lemme know if ya see anything..

something about a building the Israelis took over being hit with rockets and collapsing possibly..heavy casualties.

 

To those who are saying "they shouldn't be outside" or "they are supposed to be inside during a time of war..." Keep in mind that most of the homes in Gaza are without windows, so there is no real protection from the outside. When they release this stuff over a populated area, and one where the buildings have no windows, the stuff in going to end up on people's skin regardless.

Yet Pepik says it's a non-issue... because the stuff isn't falling on his or his children's skin.

 

I think that you are just as likely to have a coconut drop on your head in New York City as you are to be hit by some burning phosphorus in the head through your window in Gaza.

 

I can pretty well see the Israeli Cabinet huddled around a conference table. A serious, sober, well meaning cabinet member is saying:
"We have the soldiers, we have the tanks, we have a wall around the entire Gaza strip. Now all we need is the will. The Final Solution is within our grasp." Meaning of course, the extermination of all Palestinians in Gaza. The place is a slaughter pen with no exit.
As this is said, the civilian population of Gaza, numbering 1,100,000 waits in terror as tanks rumble toward ther neighborhoods.
The U.S. government is meanwhile paralyzed because the current President is pro-Israeli and the incoming President doesn't want to do anything precipitous in his first days in office. Arab governments are uniformly afraid of Israeli weaponry and are not in the mood for another disastrous war. And the Palestinians of Gaza continue to die, while foreign journalists are excluded by the Israeli army. Murder doesn't look good in the press, and the winners will write the history once again.

 

yeah and they should be doubly safe in a UN shelter right??..
sadly it appears the israelis dont seem to care where you seek refuge if your a palestinian..

Israeli shelling kills dozens at UN school in Gaza

 

What they dont say on the news is that most of the population living in Gaza is refugees from earlier conflict. They have raped their homes and land and infrastructure, put them in a prison complex, implied sanctions making life a misrable to the palestinian people...

But a few rockets go over the wall and then its terrorism?

"Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underacheiver." - Bill Hicks

 

I disagree with you and Rubin on that - you can't expect people to hide in a basement for a week on a moment's notice. Its a city, people will have to venture out. That's why I don't see the point of this ground war - I don't see how they achieve much that the air war didn't, and it gets a lot messier.