BEIRUT (Dispatches) – As Al Jazeera reported in March, the Zionist regime continues to use white phosphorus munitions in south Lebanon, causing lasting damage and driving villagers away even as Israeli officials threaten a war across their northern border.
A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) concurs, showing that white phosphorus attacks are “putting civilians at grave risk” and “contributing to displacement”.
More than 92,600 people have been displaced from their villages in south Lebanon since October 6, according to the International Organization for Migration.
“Israel’s use of airburst white phosphorus munitions in populated areas indiscriminately harms civilians and has led many to leave their homes,” Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW, said in the report.
In their investigation, HRW also verified the use of white phosphorus munitions by the Israeli military in at least 17 municipalities across south Lebanon since October 2023, when Israel’s war on Gaza began.
They verified the illegal use of airburst munitions over populated residential areas in the municipalities of Kfar Kila, Meiss el-Jabal, Boustane, Markaba and Aita al-Shaab.
White phosphorus injuries can be severely painful and necrotic. Oxides can reignite in the skin unless the burns are covered immediately and kept covered to prevent any exposure to oxygen.
Other symptoms may include severe respiratory problems, acute lung injury, severe eye damage, second or third-degree burns, or even severe bone diseases, such as the necrotic “Lucifer’s jaw”.
At least 173 people have been injured by exposure to white phosphorus between October and late May, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
Among those are verified cases of civilians who were rushed to a hospital on October 15 for asphyxiation after coming in contact with the phosphorus.
And reported cases of white phosphorus continued into June.
In a March investigation into Israeli use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera was told by Lebanese experts that Israel was attempting to create a buffer zone by making the region uninhabitable and impossible to cultivate.
Agriculture accounts for up to 80 percent of south Lebanon’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the United Nations.