The Israeli army illegally used artillery-fired white phosphorus munitions on homes in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged on Monday in a statement carried by international news agencies.
HRW says it has verified and geolocated seven images showing white phosphorus munitions detonated in the air over a residential area of the city, as well as civil defense workers working to put out fires in at least two homes and a car in that area on March 3.
“The Israeli military's illegal use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have serious consequences for civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW. “The incendiary effects of white phosphorus can cause death or severe injuries leading to lifelong suffering,” he pointed out.
White phosphorus is a chemical dispersed in artillery shells, bombs and rockets that ignites when exposed to oxygen. He can set fire to houses, agricultural land and other civilian objects. Under international humanitarian law, the use of air-detonated white phosphorus is illegal in populated areas and does not meet the legal requirement to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.
Israel called for the evacuation of dozens of villages in Lebanon on March 3
HRW says it has verified and geolocated an image posted on social media on the morning of March 3 showing at least two white phosphorus munitions fired by artillery and detonated in the air over a residential neighborhood in the southern Lebanese city of Yohmor.
Earlier in the day, at 5:27 a.m., Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's spokesman for the Arab public, issued an order stating that residents of Yohmor and 50 other villages and towns “must evacuate immediately [locuințele] and move away from the villages at least 1,000 meters outside the town to open ground”. Adraee repeated the statement at 12:12 the same day. Human Rights Watch has not verified whether there were people in the area or whether there were any injuries as a result of the use of white phosphorus.
Human Rights Watch previously documented the Israeli military's use of white phosphorus between October 2023 and May 2024 in border villages in southern Lebanon, “which exposed civilians to grave risk and contributed to the displacement of the civilian population,” according to the human rights organization.
White phosphorus can be used for many purposes, including creating smoke screens, marking, signaling, or directly attacking military personnel and equipment.
