“We’ve seen the reports. Certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions to try to learn a bit more,” said White House spokesperson John Kirby when asked about reports that Israel has used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions in southern Lebanon.
A Washington Post report found that Israel used the shells in an October attack that injured at least nine civilians, after analysing shell fragments taken from Dheira, the village that was attacked. The rights group Amnesty International has also verified photos and videos showing Israel using white phosphorus in Dheira.
However, Kirby said that white phosphorus has a “legitimate military utility” for illumination and producing smoke to provide cover for military movements.
“Obviously, any time that we provide items like white phosphorous to another military, it is with the full expectation that it will be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes … and in keeping with the law of armed conflict,” Kirby added.
Human Rights Watch, which has also documented the use of white phosphorus by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza since the start of the war, previously said that its use is “unlawfully indiscriminate” when used in populated urban areas. The munition can cause severe bone-deep burns that can kill.
Source: AlJazeera
