What exactly is white phosphorus and why is it controversial?

“What exactly is white phosphorus and why is it controversial? Submitted by Daniel Tester on Sat, 05/02/2026 - 14:10 Israel has used the deadly munition extensively in Lebanon and Gaza amid condemnation from human rights monitors An explosion of what appears to be white phosphorus during an Israeli army attack in south Lebanon on 30 April 2026 (Reuters) On Israel has been accused this week of again using white phosphorous in southern Lebanon , firing shells near towns and villages. Human rights monitors say such operations constitute indiscriminate attacks that violate international humanitarian law. White phosphorus causes painful burns and death, and is regarded by many experts as an incendiary weapon. But it has largely escaped a blanket ban under international law given its other military uses. Here, Middle East Eye explains everything you need to know about the munition and how it is deployed. What is white phosphorus? White phosphorus , which is usually processed from rock phosphate, is a pale solid with a waxy appearance that glows in the dark but blackens when exposed to light. It is a volatile pyrophoric, meaning it catches fire and produces a thick white smoke on contact with air or water. Originally, it was used during the 19th century in match factories, but burns from its vapour often caused a fatal condition among workers colloquially known as “phossy jaw” . Today, in civilian life, it is mostly used in agriculture and as a chemical agent in detergents, although this is decreasing amid environmental concerns. On the battlefield, armies say that its smoke disguises troop movement, as well as pinpointing targets for artillery or air strikes. But that same smoke is also a highly dangerous irritant, meaning that white phosphorous can be used as an incendiary weapon, or to force crowds to disperse. What does white phosphorous do? White phosphorus causes serious bodily harm, including suffocation, in closed spaces such as tunnels. Prolonged exposure to the airways can result in nausea, burning, build-up of fluid in the lungs and extreme thirst. White phosphorous is also sticky, clinging to skin and clothes, generating temperatures of up to 2,500 C and burning through flesh to the bone, causing excruciating injuries. Sometimes wounds will smoke or phosphoric acid will appear. White phosphorus can also poison organs if it gets into the bloodstream, causing death. Those exposed are treated through the removal of the burning substance and also by covering the wounds to prevent reignition (white phosphorous can reignite, even if it appears to be extinguished). For medical professionals attempting to treat its effects, white phosphorus is extremely hard to remove and presents significant hazards . There is no antidote for its toxicity. A patient at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza in January 2009 with wounds indicating white phosphorus exposure amid Israel's war on the enclave (Jerry Lampen/Reuters) In addition to its impact on people, the combustibility of white phosphorous means it is also capable of burning buildings and infrastructure, and making land unfit for agriculture. Bonnie Docherty , a lecturer at the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School and a senior arms adviser at Human Rights Watch (HRW), has published extensively on white phosphorus. She told Middle East Eye: “When white phosphorus is airburst over a populated area, it spreads flaming wedges of the substance over a wide area and cannot distinguish between civilians and soldiers or between civilian objects and military targets. “That use is inherently indiscriminate and violates general international humanitarian law, or the laws of war.” When was white phosphorous first used? White phosphorus was first widely used in the First World War by American and Commonwealth forces, include the UK. The RAF used it in Iraq during the revolt of 1920, dropping white phosphorous on Kurdish villages. In 1944, the US Army used white phosphorous grenades during the campaign in Normandy . Two decades later in Vietnam, “Willie Pete” as it was nicknamed by US soldiers, was fired into Viet Cong tunnel networks to suffocate the enemy and used to ignite napalm. In the Falklands War of 1982, the British used it against Argentinian forces. Likewise, the Russians used white phosphorous during the Chechen Wars of the 1990s. During the second Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of using white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon. The presence of the munition was later confirmed by investigators from the Atlantic Council think tank. Azerbaijan also claimed that Armenia had used the munition. There are also allegations that Moscow ordered its use against Ukraine in 2022. When has it been used by Israel? Israel has used white phosphorus munitions extensively during its military campaigns in the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon. This includes as recently as March this year during the US-Israeli war on Iran, when it fired white phosphorus over homes in the village of Yohmor, southern Lebanon. Rights groups, including Amnesty International and HRW , have previously documented the extensive use of white phosphorus by Israel over populated areas in southern Lebanon and Gaza on numerous occasions since October 2023. Israel, which killed more than 72,000 Palestinians during its genocide in the enclave, has denied the reports. White phosphorous, which is waxy in appearance, self-heats and combusts immediately when it comes into contact with air or water, before burning ferociously (Creative Commons) The Israeli military initially said it was “currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorus in Gaza”, before later saying that such reports were “unequivocally false”. Israel previously admitted using the weapon during its 2006 invasion of Lebanon and its 2008-09 war on Gaza , when it fired approximately 200 white phosphorus munitions into populated areas of Gaza, leading to dozens of civilian casualties according to HRW . Yaakov Edri, an Israeli government minister, said in October 2006: “The IDF [Israeli military] holds phosphorus munitions in different forms. The IDF made use of phosphorus shells during the war against Hezbollah in attacks against military targets in open ground.” In 2013, Israel’s High Court of Justice dismissed a petition calling for a ban on the Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus munitions in populated areas. What about elsewhere in the Middle East? White phosphorus was also used extensively in Syria and Iraq during the Syrian Civil War and the US-led campaign against Islamic State (IS). The US-led coalition , Turkey and the Syrian government were each accused of using the munition. In November 2005, the US admitted using white phosphorus during the siege of Fallujah in Iraq the previous year. "Yes, it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable told the BBC. The US-led coalition was also accused of using white phosphorus in Afghanistan in 2009 by HRW . Washington in turn accused the Taliban of using white phosphorus munitions on 44 occasions that same year. What does international law say about white phosphorus? Despite the devastating injuries it can cause, white phosphorus is not explicitly banned under international law. The use of certain incendiary weapons is restricted by Protocol III to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), an international treaty adopted in 1980. Protocol III defines incendiary weapons as those that are “primarily designed” to set fires and burn people, and has placed heavy restrictions on the use of weapons such as napalm and flamethrowers. But this definition excludes white phosphorus, which Docherty says “falls through the cracks of that definition because it is a multipurpose munition primarily designed as a smokescreen or illuminant” and amounts to a “major loophole in the protocol”. “Civilians suffer the same excruciating injuries from weapons that produce heat and flame regardless of what those weapons were designed to do,” she says. “Therefore, the definition should instead be based on the effects of the weapons.” Protocol III also makes stronger prohibitions against the use of “air-delivered” incendiary weapons than those that are ground-launched, which Docherty describes as Protocol III’s “other loophole”. “Even if they were covered by Protocol III’s definition, many white phosphorus munitions, such as those used recently by Israel in Lebanon, are launched from the ground.” Efforts to reform the CCW and its protocols by several states and the International Committee of the Red Cross have failed due to its governance system, whereby a single signatory can veto changes, as Russia has repeatedly done . And while Protocol III has been ratified by 117 states, including the US, European countries, China , India and Russia among others, there are still absences. In the Middle East and North Africa, Israel , Iran , Turkey , Syria , Yemen , Libya , Egypt and Sudan are not party to the protocol, meaning they are not bound by it under international law. Other states, such as Palestine and Lebanon, have joined. Non-signatories are still obliged to follow principles of general international humanitarian law, including distinguishing between civilians and combatants and avoiding civilian harm and unnecessary suffering. Who produces white phosphorus? Public information about the supply chains of white phosphorus munitions is limited. In October 2023, Amnesty International identified US Department of Defense identification codes on white phosphorus artillery shells used by the Israeli army in Gaza. The shells were launched using M109 155mm Howitzers, which were first developed by the US firm United Defense and are now primarily manufactured by the British multinational BAE Systems and its subsidiaries. A Washington Post analysis of white phosphorus shell fragments used by Israel in the village of Dheira in Lebanon in December 2023 identified production codes matching those used by the US military. The codes suggested that the shells had been manufactured in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1989 and 1992. The US army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal plant in Arkansas is a key hub for the manufacture of white phosphorus munitions, and was identified by both Amnesty and the Washington Post as the probable origin of Israeli shells used in Gaza and Lebanon. The US firm Teledyne Brown Engineering was awarded a $10m contract to modernise the white phosphorus plant at the arsenal in 2005. Liz Miranda (second from left), executive deputy to the commanding general, US Army Materiel Command, inspects shells at the Pine Bluff Arsenal’s white phosphorus facility in December 2025 (US Army) Other reports , including from the New Zealand Herald , have identified the Israeli company ICL Group, formerly known as Israel Chemicals Ltd, as a key supplier of white phosphorus munitions, including to Pine Bluff Arsenal. The US agrochemical company Monsanto, which was acquired by the German multinational Bayer in 2018, has also been implicated in white phosphorus supply chains, including by science writer Jack Lohmann in his book White Light. The Pentagon dodged accusations that the US is supplying white phosphorus munitions to Israel in October 2023. “I just don't have a comment on that. And I think, I think the spokesperson from the IDF said that they were not using that. So I just, I don't have any further comment on that,” said the then deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh. Israel's war on Lebanon Explainers Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0

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