Rapid Fire
White Phosphorus
- 10 Mar 2026
- 3 min read
A report by Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in residential areas of Lebanon, raising serious concerns over potential violations of international humanitarian law.
- The alleged chemical weapon use comes amid an intensifying Israel–Lebanon conflict, with Lebanese authorities reporting significant civilian casualties from recent Israeli strikes.
- White Phosphorus: It is a toxic, wax-like chemical substance that burns at temperatures above 800°C, hot enough to melt metal.
- Typically white, yellow, or colourless with a garlic-like odour, white phosphorus munitions are difficult to extinguish and continue burning until the chemical is fully consumed or deprived of oxygen.
- Incendiary Munition: Militaries often use White Phosphorus as incendiary munition to create smokescreens and illumination on battlefields, as it ignites rapidly and produces dense smoke that can spread over large areas.
- An incendiary weapon is a weapon designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries through flame, heat, or chemical reactions produced on impact with the target.
- Severe Health Hazards: White Phosphorus when used in populated areas, it can ignite buildings.
- White phosphorus is extremely harmful to humans, as it can cause deep burns that penetrate to the bone and release toxic chemicals that damage vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, and heart.
- The substance can also trigger metabolic disorders, including abnormal potassium levels, which may lead to heart failure.
- Legality under International Law: While white phosphorus is not outright banned as a chemical weapon when used as a smokescreen.
- Its use as an incendiary weapon in civilian-populated areas is strictly illegal under Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), 1980.
- CCW restricts or bans weapons causing excessive injury or indiscriminate harm to civilians and combatants. India is a party to all the five Protocols of the CCW.
- Protocol III of the 1980 CCW restricts incendiary weapons against civilians, but white phosphorus is often classified as a multipurpose munition used for smoke or illumination, allowing militaries to argue it is not covered by the protocol.
- Moreover, Israel is not a signatory to Protocol III, further complicating accountability.
| Read more: The Escalating Crisis in West Asia |
