White Phosphorous

• Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon has put civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries as per Human Rights Watch.
• Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations.

 ABOUT WHITE PHOSPHOROUS

• White phosphorus is a waxy, yellowish-to-clear chemical with a pungent, garlic-like odour.
• White phosphorus ignites when exposed to atmospheric oxygen and continues to burn until it is deprived of oxygen or exhausted. Its chemical reaction can create intense heat (about 815°C/1,500°F), light, and smoke.
• White phosphorus, which can be used either for marking, signaling, and obscuring, or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects, has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire.
• It can cause severe burn injuries that are slow to heal.
• White phosphorus weapons are not banned, but their use in civilian areas is considered a war crime.
• Positively is applications include- use in fertilisers, food additives and cleaning compounds.