← History Uncensored
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Watch and the New York Times have documented Israel's use of white phosphorus over populated areas in Lebanon during Israel's campaign against Hezbollah. Now, white phosphorus is a substance that can burn through human tissue and reignite inside wounds. But you might not have heard much about this for two reasons. One, because of its prior use by many countries and two, because of a legal loophole. So the New York Times and Human Rights Watch documented its use in early 2026, including near Nabatea, a city of roughly 40,000 people fired in artillery shells. It bursts in the air and scatters burning phosphorus fragments over a wide area. Israel says it uses the substance to create smoke screens, which is a common military purpose to cover troop movement and interfere with optics and weapon tracking systems. Human Rights Watch says that the recent uses over residential were unlawful. Now the risk here is why this matters. White phosphorus is a waxy, yellowish solid with a garlic like smell. It ignites spontaneously on contact with oxygen at temperatures above 30 degrees centigrade, 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and once burning, it can reach around 800 degrees centigrade, 1470 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's hard to extinguish because it keeps burning until fully deprived of oxygen. Now, the World Health Organization is unambiguous about what exposure can do to the human body, so it's harmful by every route of exposure. Basically, burns are deep, slow to heal. They carry a high risk of mortality through phosphorus absorption in the body, which can cause liver, heart and kidney damage and multiple organ failure. Smoke from burning phosphorus produces phosphoric acids that damage the eyes and the respiratory tract. Systemic effects like cardiovascular collapse and coma can be delayed up to 24 hours after exposure. And medical personnel treating victims can face secondary exposure risk from wounds that may still be burning. Now this is not a theoretical risk because previous uses in southern Lebanon have injured civilians and sent large numbers of people for medical treatment after exposure. So let's look at the beginnings of white phosphorus. According to the journal Clinical Nephrology, the element phosphorus was discovered in 1669 by German alchemist Henning Brand while he was searching for the philosopher's stone, the legendary substance believed to transmute base metals into gold. So Brand isolated chemiluminescent white phosphorus from urine. White phosphorus is then believed to have been used as an incendiary by Fenian militants, so members of the secret Irish nationalist fraternal organisation. Back in the 19th century, when the solvent carbon disulfide evaporated, the phosphorus bursts into flames and that mixture became known as Fenian fire. Armies followed. The British army introduced factory built white
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phosphorous grenades and Eczema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with Epglis, a once monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four month or longer dosing phase, about 4 in 10 people taking EBGLIS achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing.
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Emplis Lebricizumab LBKZ a 250mg 2ml injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to ebglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis. Before starting ebglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection.
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the Second World War, white phosphorus munitions were used extensively by American and Commonwealth forces. US forces used white phosphorus in Vietnam. British used it in the Falklands. Russia used it in both Chechen wars. The US used it in Fallujah in 2004 in what military publications described as a shake and bake mission. So white phosphorus to flush fighters out, high explosives to finish them. That's a quote. The US led coalition also used white phosphorus munitions in Iraq and Syria, including around Mosul, saying that they were used for screening and obscuring rather than directly against people. Remember that bit. Israel has a documented history of use. It's acknowledged using phosphorus shells in Lebanon in 2006, used white phosphorus in Gaza in 2008-2009 where a UN fact find mission found Israel systematically reckless in its use in built up areas, and then again in Lebanon in 2023 and now reportedly in 2026. So here's the legal loophole I wanted to tell you. White phosphorus is not usually treated as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which has been joined by over 190 states. The chemical Weapons Convention targets weapons that cause harm through toxic chemical action on the body. Because white phosphorus munitions are generally classified for smoke, signalling, illumination or incendiary effects rather than primarily for toxicity, they're not prohibited as chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Perhaps the more relevant framework Here is Protocol 3 of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which restricts incendiary weapons, particularly near concentrations of civilians. But Protocol 3 contains a critical exemption. Munitions whose incendiary effect is incidental, like smoke or signalling systems, are excluded from its definition of incendiary weapons. That's the loophole. White phosphorus shells can scatter burning chemical fragments across residential neighbourhoods and escape the legal definition of an incendiary weapon because they were formally designated for smoke.
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But interestingly in Israel's case, there's actually a further complication because Israel did sign but did not ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, meaning it never took that final legal step that would make it fully bound by the Convention's obligations. But as white phosphorus is not usually treated as a chemical weapon anyway, the more relevant law is that one, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. And that treaty works like an umbrella so states can join the main Convention while accepting some protocols and not others. So Israel's join the main system but not Protocol three, which is the specific one regarding incendiary weapons. Lebanon and Palestine have joined that protocol, but Israel has not. In any case, ordinary laws of war still apply to any actors in war. Distinction between combatants and civilians, proportionality, the requirement to consider feasible alternatives. Non incendiary smoke rounds exist. The legal and moral question is whether choosing white phosphorus over safer alternatives in populated areas can ever be justified and whether the foreseeable civilian risk was proportionate to any military advantage gained. So white phosphorus is not categorically illegal, but when fired over populated areas, when previous exposure has already sent civilians for treatment, and when the distinction between smoke screening, burning people collapses, that loophole becomes lethal.