GENEVA, October 26. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) is aware of reports of white phosphorus use in the zone of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, WHO Spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told TASS.
When asked to confirm or deny reports by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry and other sources about the Israeli army’s use of phosphorus munitions in Gaza, he said: "There have been reports of the use of white phosphorus or other similar incendiary weapons. The WHO does not verify the type or provenance of weapons used."
On October 26, Palestinian Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi said at a briefing in Geneva that Israel’s operation involved the use of white phosphorus, which had been confirmed by the Human Rights Watch organization.
Human Rights Watch said earlier in a report that Israeli forces had used white phosphorus in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11.
On October 11, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of using phosphorus cluster munitions in the Gaza Strip. However, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, said on October 13 that the United Nations did not have confirmation of Israel’s use of white phosphorus.
White phosphorus is used for military purposes in aerial bombs, aviation cluster ammunition, artillery shells and mines. Incendiary weapons are considered to be conventional but Protocol 3 of the 1980 UN Convention on Inhuman Weapons bans their use against civilians and civilian facilities, as well as in strikes on military targets in civilian areas. Human rights organizations call for classifying phosphorus bombs as chemical weapons.