Don’t Panic: What is white phosphorous and is Israel using it in Gaza?
January 19, 2009 at 9:39 am by Andisheh Nouraee in Don't Panic
On Dec. 27, Israel attacked the Gaza Strip — a small coastal enclave abutting Israel and the very crowded home of 1.5 million Palestinians.
As of Jan., 1,080 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, 765 of them were civilians. An additional 5,100 Palestinians have been wounded. Thirteen Israelis have been killed. Three of them were civilians. An additional 80 Israelis have been wounded.
The disparity in the number of casualties is largely the result of each side’s relative military strength. Hamas, the militant group exercising semi-control of Gaza, is a sloppy gang of militants and terrorist dicktards. Its arsenal consists of guns and homemade rockets. If it were capable of killing more Israelis, it certainly would.
Israel, however, has one of the world’s largest, most technologically abundant militaries. Its arsenal includes tanks, advanced fighter jets, precision-guided bombs and missiles, a modern navy with submarines, and nuclear weapons. A vast majority of the Palestinian dead have been killed by conventional Israeli bombs, missiles and shrapnel. Nevertheless, much attention has been paid in recent days to Palestinian victims of white phosphorous weapons.
White phosphorous, or WP, is a man-made derivative of the chemical element phosphorous. Phosphorous is found on the periodic table of elements, nudged between silicon and sulphur. WP is most commonly used to make phosphoric acid, a key ingredient in chemical cleansers, fertilizers, and, um, Coca-Cola. Phosphoric acid is what gives Coke its tanginess.
Unfortunately, white phosphorous also contains chemical properties that make it very useful to a military. It burns very brightly, allowing illumination of battle areas at night. It also generates a lot of smoke, obscuring troop movements during the day. Packed in a bomb, grenade, or artillery shell, it’s a powerful incendiary, part of a weapon intended to set things on fire (as opposed to regular weapons, which destroy targets with explosions and flying metal).
WP incendiaries devices work by disbursing a cloud of white phosphorous dust, which then ignites at 86 degrees Farenheit. It won’t stop burning until its oxygen supply is cut-off.
When WP dust comes into contact with the human body (which is approximately 98.6 degrees Farenheit), it burns. And burns. And burns. It doesn’t stop until it digs all the way down to the bone. People killed or wounded by WP look like they’ve been dipped in acid.
During the first half of the 20th century, burning people alive during war was considered totally fine. Like the old saying goes: To make an omelette, you need to break some eggs and set the chef on fire. Believe it or not, the atomic bombing raids of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not history’s deadliest bomb attacks. That dubious honor goes to the March 9, 1945 incendiary raid on Tokyo. The attack left 100,000 Japanese dead and approximately 1 million homeless. I repeat, that was one evening. In 1980, the civilized world decided that maybe burning civilians alive during warfare was not such a good idea. That year, a new section was added to the Geneva Convention banning the use of incendiaries on, or near civilians.
Israel denies its using WP in Gaza. “I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorous is absolutely not being used,” an Israeli military spokesman told CNN on Jan. 7.
Unfortunately, there’s strong evidence to the contrary. Human Rights Watch, the United Nations and the conservative Times newspaper in London all say Israel is using WP in Gaza. HRW watch observers have seen WP artillery exploding over Gaza City. In fact, countless published press photos depict WP-like white cloud bursts over populated parts of Gaza. The Times reports finding spent shells from Israeli WP weapons in Gaza.
And the United Nations headquarters building in Gaza was hit with white phosphorous artillery on Jan. 15, according to U.N. workers inside. Hundreds of civilians were sheltered in the building at the time. The fire could not be quelled with regular fire extinguishers — a trait consistent with WP.
To see what WP weapons do to the human body, check out the Guardian’s Jan. 16 video report from a hospital in Gaza. It’s gruesome, but if you support the Israeli action, you should watch it and see what you’re supporting: tinyurl.com/8ndkv9.
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