The Israeli army has started an investigation into the use of white phosphorus shells in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip during its offensive against Hamas militants.

After initially denying reports – first published in The Times on January 5 – that the weapon had been deployed in the Gaza campaign, the military has now all but admitted its use.

White phosphorus is legal if fired as a battlefield smokescreen but it is banned in civilian areas, where its use could constitute a war crime.

The inquiry came as the army decided not to divulge the names of the battalion commanders who oversaw the battle in the overcrowded slums and cities of Gaza for fear that they could face arrest and prosecution for war crimes if they travelled abroad.

The army appointed an artillery officer, Colonel Shai Alkalai, to investigate a reserve paratroop brigade accused of firing the munitions – which are similar to napalm in their impact on the human body – into crowded civilian areas in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza.

The United Nations agency responsible for looking after Palestinian refugees has released photographs of what appears to be white phosphorus raining down on a UN school in Beit Lahiya on January 17. The pictures show terrified Palestinians fleeing from burning lumps of the material, which can burn through skin to the bone. Paramedics sprint away from the incandescent core of the explosion as it engulfs a Red Crescent ambulance, before they return with stretchers to evacuate the victims. At least two children were killed and fourteen people suffered severe burns in the attack, according to medical officials.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, who visited the still smouldering UN facilities on Tuesday, called the strikes totally unacceptable and demanded “accountability through a proper judiciary system”.

While initially issuing an outright denial on the use of white phosphorus, Major-General Amir Eshel, the army’s head of strategic planning, has since said that firing shells as a smoke screen was legal and had been done by Britain and the US. “It is the most nonlethal kind of weapon we used. I don’t see any issue with that,” he said.

Amnesty International, which has investigators in Gaza, said that it had found indisputable evidence that white phosphorus was used by Israeli forces in densely populated areas.

“We saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still-burn-ing wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army,” said Christopher Cobb-Smith, a weapons expert and member of the factfinding team in Gaza.

“White phosphorus is highly incendiary air-burst, and its spread effect is such that it should never be used on civilian areas.”

The Israeli army inquiry is focusing on which type of phosphorus shells were used in the attacks on Beit Lahiya. The army said that it used two types of the ordnance, which can be used to detonate booby traps.

The 155mm artillery shell contains little phosphorus, military sources said. The other type is the 81mm or 120mm mortar round that is dense with the element. Around 200 of these were fired in Operation Cast Lead and the inquiry will look into about twenty that were allegedly fired at civilian areas, although the paratroop officers said that they fired only at identified hostile targets.

The 120mm shells have come under scrutiny for their computerized targeting systems which led to a strike on a refugee shelter, in which 42 Palestinians were killed.With evidence of possible war crimes growing, the Israeli army has decided not to divulge the names of battalion and brigade commanders who took part in the battle.

Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister and architect of the offensive, ordered the army to establish an incrimination team of intelligence and legal experts to examine any evidence that could be used against Israeli officials in law suits. That could possibly include Ma-jor-General Yoav Galant, the chief of Israel’s southern command, as well as other senior officers.

One of his predecessors, Major-General Doron Almog, was warned during a visit to London in 2005 not to leave his aircraft at Heathrow after a tip-off that British police were waiting to arrest him for his orders to destroy Palestinian homes in southern Gaza.

There is also growing domestic pressure for an investigation into the military’s conduct in the war, which led to about 1,300 Palestinian deaths, many of them civilians. Eight human rights organisations have appealed to the Attorney-General to set up an independent committee to investigate possible war crimes.

A spokeswoman for one of the groups, B’Tselem, said that an investigation into allegations that some soldiers shot at people waving white flags, refused to treat wounded people and fired into civilian buildings, could help court cases abroad.

How Israel backtracked

January 5, 2009 Israeli military spokesman: “We categorically deny the use of white phosphorus”

January 8, 2009 Major Avital Leibovich, military spokeswoman: “This is what we call a quiet shell: it is empty, it has no explosives and no white phosphorus. There is nothing inside it. We shoot it to mark the target before we launch a real shell. “We launch two or three of the quiet shells which are empty so that the real shells will be accurate. It’s not for killing people”

January 14 Gabi Ashkenazi, the Israel Defence Forces chief of staff: “The IDF acts only in accordance with what is permitted by international law and does not use white phosphorus”

January 21 Major-General Amir Eshel, the army’s head of strategic planning: “It is the most nonlethal kind of weapon we used. I don't see any issue with that”

Source: The Times

Times Recommends

• Mandela’s tribe threatens President Zuma
• The French empire strikes back
• Wife of cheating governor exacts a political revenge