Amid escalating tensions in West Asia, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, over residential areas in southern Lebanon.
In a report released on Monday, Human Rights Watch said the Israel Defense Forces unlawfully fired artillery-delivered white phosphorus munitions over homes in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor on March 3.
Human Rights Watch said it verified and geolocated eight images showing airburst white phosphorus munitions being deployed over a residential part of the town. The images also showed civil defense workers responding to fires in at least two homes and one car in the affected area, the organisation said.
The rights group warned that such weapons can cause severe burns, lifelong injuries, and deadly fires, especially when used near civilian homes. Civil defense teams were reportedly forced to extinguish fires in houses and vehicles following the strikes.
“The Israeli military’s unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The incendiary effects of white phosphorous can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering.”
White phosphorus is a chemical substance dispersed in artillery shells, bombs, and rockets that ignites when exposed to oxygen. It can set homes, agricultural areas, and other civilian objects on fire. Under international humanitarian law, the use of airburst white phosphorus is unlawfully indiscriminate in populated areas and does not meet the legal requirement to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm, the organisation said.
Human Rights Watch said that it has previously documented the Israeli military’s widespread use of white phosphorus between October 2023 and May 2024 across border villages in southern Lebanon, which put civilians at grave risk and contributed to civilian displacement.
The organisation said Israel should prohibit all use of airburst artillery-delivered white phosphorus munitions in populated areas because it puts civilians at risk of indiscriminate attacks.
Human Rights Watch has also urged Israel’s key allies, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, to suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel and impose targeted sanctions on officials credibly implicated in grave crimes. Lebanon’s judicial authorities should initiate domestic investigations of serious international crimes, and the government should accede to the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute and submit a declaration accepting the court’s jurisdiction prior to the date of accession, including since at least October 7, 2023, the organisation said.
Since the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2, at least 394 people have been killed in Lebanon as of March 8, according to the health ministry, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, the organisation said.