" Jerusalem - Israel has admitted - after mounting pressure - that
its troops may have used white phosphorus shells in contravention of
international law, during its three-week offensive in the Gaza
Strip."
http://www.truthout.org/012109D
Israel Admits Troops Used Phosphorus Shells in Gaza
Amnesty warns Israel guilty of war crimes.
Jerusalem - Israel has admitted - after mounting pressure - that
its troops used white phosphorus shells in contravention of
international law, during its three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip.
One of the places most seriously affected by the use of white
phosphorus was the main UN compound in Gaza City, which was hit by
three shells on 15 January. The same munition was used in a strike on
the al-Quds hospital in Gaza City the same day.
Under review by Colonel Shai Alkalai is the use of white
phosphorus by a reserve paratroop brigade in northern Israel.
According to army sources the brigade fired up to 20 phosphorus
shells in a heavily built-up area around the Gaza township of Beit
Lahiya, one of the worst hit areas of Gaza.
The internal inquiry - which the army says does not have the
status of the full investigation demanded by human rights groups
including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - follows weeks
of fighting in which Israel either denied outright that it was using
phosphorus-based weapons, or insisted that what weapons it was using
"were in line with international law".
Dr Ahmed Almi from the al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis describes
serious injuries and chemical burns, with victims covered in a white
powder that continues to burn long after initial exposure Link to this
video
Phosphorus is a toxic chemical agent that burns on contact with
air and creates thick white smokes in order to hide troop movements.
However phosphorus shells are largely indiscriminate scattering large
numbers of fragments over a large area, which can cause severe damage
to both human tissue and property.
As the Guardian reported yesterday, Palestinian doctors have
reported treating dozens of cases of suspected phosphorus burns.
According to senior IDF officers, quoted today in the Ha'aretz
newspaper, the Israeli military made use of two different types of
phosphorus munitions.
The first, they insisted, was contained in 155mm artillery shells,
and contained "almost no phosphorus" except for a trace to ignite the
smoke screen.
The second munitions, at the centre of the inquiry by Col Alkalai,
are standard phosphorus shells - both 88mm and 120mm - fired from
mortars.
About 200 of these shells were fired during Israel's Operation
Cast Lead in Gaza, and of these - say the IDF - 180 were fired on
Hamas fighters and rocket launch crews in northern Gaza.
Alkalai is investigating the circumstances in which the remaining
20 shells were fired, amid compelling evidence on the ground that
phosphorus munitions were involved in the attack on a UN warehouse and
a UN school.
The mortar system is guided by GPS and according to Israel a
failure of the targeting system may have been responsible for civilian
deaths. However, critics point out the same explanation was used for
mis-targeting deaths in Beit Hanoun in Gaza in 2006.
The use of phosphorus as an incendiary weapon as it now appears to
have been used against Hamas fighters - as opposed to a smoke screen -
is covered by the Convention of Certain Conventional Weapons to which
Israel in not a signatory.
However, Israel also is obliged under the Geneva Conventions and
customary international humanitarian law to give due care to
protecting the civilian population when deciding on appropriate
military targeting and response to hostile fire, particularly in
heavily built up areas with a strict prohibition on the use of
indiscriminate force.
"They obviously could not have gone on denying the use of
phosphorus," Donatella Rovera, Amnesty researcher for Israel and the
Occupied Territories, told the Guardian yesterday. "There are still
phosphorus wedges burning all over Gaza including at the UN compound
and at the school.
"It is clear they are not using it as smoke screen as they
claimed. They used it in areas where they had no forces, and there are
much less problematic smoke screens that they could have used."
Amnesty on Monday warned that Israel could be guilty of war
crimes, saying the use of the shells in a civilian areas was "clear
and undeniable".
Rovera demanded too that Israel produce clear evidence that there
were fighters in the areas it says its troops were fired upon when the
phosphorus munitions were fired.
The admission that the shells had been used improperly follows
yesterday's demand by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon for an
investigation into the targeting of UN facilities - including by
phosphorus weapons.
It also follows the decision by the IDF to protect the names of
battalion and brigade commanders who participated in Operation Cast
Lead.
According to Israel Army Radio on Wednesday the decision - ordered
by defence minister Ehud Barak - was made in anticipation that war
crimes charges will be filed against IDF officers, who could face
prosecution when they travel overseas.
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