Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus.
Using it against infantry targets is, but WP use by itself does not necessarily indicate a war crime
It’s commonly used by nations around the world to produce smoke for the purposes of concealment or signaling/marking
I’m inclined to believe their intended use here are as artillery spotting rounds to guage whether fire is accurate or not, it’s not like Israel doesn’t have plenty of more effective conventional ways to kill people if that was their goal with these WP rounds
I would probably call its usage in such a densely populated urban area reckless and callous at best but that’s the name of the game in war unfortunately
Well if they’re dead set on destroying whatever the target is, it’s either that or run a higher risk of your artillery missing and destroying some other random building, so it’s kinda lose-lose for everyone involved
War sucks and picking between different ways to accidentally kill civilians tends to be the reality
Using it against infantry targets is, but WP use by itself does not necessarily indicate a war crime
It’s commonly used by nations around the world to produce smoke for the purposes of concealment or signaling/marking
I’m inclined to believe their intended use here are as artillery spotting rounds to guage whether fire is accurate or not, it’s not like Israel doesn’t have plenty of more effective conventional ways to kill people if that was their goal with these WP rounds
I would probably call its usage in such a densely populated urban area reckless and callous at best but that’s the name of the game in war unfortunately
I’m pretty sure the reckless and callous use of it in a densely populated urban area is exactly what escalates it to war crime
Well if they’re dead set on destroying whatever the target is, it’s either that or run a higher risk of your artillery missing and destroying some other random building, so it’s kinda lose-lose for everyone involved
War sucks and picking between different ways to accidentally kill civilians tends to be the reality
Remember when they would intentionally shoot Palestinians in the knees instead of the body? I assume it’s something like that.