The Israeli military has deployed white phosphorus, an incendiary substance that can be extremely harmful, over populated areas in Lebanon in its battle against Hezbollah, according to experts, aid groups and visual evidence collected by The New York Times.
Distinctive smoke trails from this type of munition were seen as recently as May 30 in Nabatieh, a city of roughly 40,000, in social media footage verified by The Times, which was filmed as Israeli forces captured Beaufort Castle, a landmark in the area.
Other verified footage showed that white phosphorus had been used in the vicinity of the coastal city of Tyre, as well as near three small towns — Qlayaa, Khiam and Yohmor — in the months since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group, began again in March. The latest fighting erupted after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Once exposed to air, white phosphorus spontaneously ignites and is exceptionally difficult to extinguish.
Often deployed by militaries to create fires and smoke screens during combat, white phosphorus is not illegal in itself, but deploying it deliberately against civilians or in an area populated by civilians violates the international laws of war. Human rights advocates have raised concerns that civilians have been affected by the Israeli military’s use of it.
Israel denies using the substance in violation of those laws. It is not clear for what purpose the Israeli military used white phosphorus in these incidents.
The Times asked the Israeli military questions about its use of white phosphorus in Nabatieh, Qlayaa, Khiam and Tyre in four specific instances and provided the coordinates for those incidents. The Israeli military had no comment on those incidents. The Times also asked the military about its internal guidelines for the usage of white phosphorus.
“I.D.F. procedures require that such shells are not used in densely populated areas, subject to certain exceptions. This complies and goes beyond the requirements of international law,” it said in a statement.
Israel uses American-made 155-millimeter M825A1 artillery projectiles that contain 116 felt wedges, in the shape of pizza slices, coated with white phosphorous. They are designed to create five to 10 minutes of dense white smoke, providing cover to fighters.
The shells can be fuzed to break apart and dispense their cargo midair, which will spread their incendiary effect over a wide area. That can be used to create a smoke screen, but also will cause fires on the ground wherever the wedges land.
The munitions can also be set to rupture on impact — to create a single fire, that militaries use as a visual marker to guide additional strikes.
Munitions experts who analyzed recent footage from news agencies as well as social media posts concluded that the imagery showed artillery projectiles bursting midair in Lebanon, releasing streams of burning white phosphorous below — consistent with previous Israeli uses of American M825A1 shells.
In response to questions by The Times, the Israeli military said that, “the primary smoke-screen shells used by the I.D.F. do not contain white phosphorus.”
“Like many Western militaries,” the statement added, “the I.D.F. also possesses smoke-screen shells that include white phosphorous that are legal under international law. These shells are used by the I.D.F. for creating smoke screens and not for targeting or causing fires and are not defined under law as incendiary weapons.”
There are currently no publicly available statistics about the Israeli military’s use of other smoke-screen shells.
Israel’s use of white phosphorus
The substance is “cheap, plentiful and pretty good at what it’s used for,” said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Research Services, a private intelligence consultancy based in Australia that tracks arms and munitions.
Israel’s deployment of white phosphorus in populated areas has brought about scrutiny in the past.
A 2024 report by Human Rights Watch documented its widespread use in Lebanon and questioned its necessity, pointing out that there were safer alternatives, such as the M150 shells, which the Israeli military reportedly used in 2024. .
The traces of these shells are visually distinct from the feathery trails of white phosphorus, which are more irregular.
Israel has also deployed white phosphorus in Gaza — in 2009, and in conflicts in Lebanon, including 1982 and 2006. In the year following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, the Israeli military used white phosphorus more than 200 times in Lebanon, according to Ahmad Beydoun, an independent researcher who built a visual database of its sightings in the country.
The Lebanese government has filed four letters since October 2023 raising concerns about Israel’s use of white phosphorus to the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council. One of the letters, dated July 3, 2024, cites government figures showing that more than 600 fires have broken out as a result of the use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon.
“The harm that white phosphorus causes is horrific,” said Bonnie Docherty, a senior arms adviser at Human Rights Watch. “It inflicts burns that can penetrate to the bone.” The dense smoke it produces, she said, “causes severe respiratory damage, and organ failure. Wounds can reignite when bandages are removed and remnants of the substance are exposed to oxygen.”
White phosphorous can also set homes, cars, buildings, fields and other objects on fire. An Amnesty International report from 2023 found that residents of Dhayra, a town in the south of Lebanon, fled after repeated release of white phosphorus on Oct. 16, 2023, and that cars and homes were still burning when they returned days later.
Traces of white phosphorus can exist in water and soil long after its use, experts said, and forested areas and farmland can be significantly damaged.
“There are understudied risks with long-term exposure to its smoke,” said Wim Zwijnenburg, who works at PAX, a Dutch peace organization, and researches the effects of conflict on the environment. “We also know that residents and farmers can face loss of access to their land and they often need specialized clearance operations after.”
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Because white phosphorus munitions are primarily designed as smoke screens and illuminants, they often fall in a loophole in existing international law, Ms. Docherty said.
“Their destructive effects — such as causing fires or severe burns — are seen as a side effect of their use, rather than the main reason a military would use these weapons,” she added.
Although white phosphorous is legal if not deliberately deployed in populated areas, it is often hard to tell whether it was used intentionally. “These munitions are not precision weapons, and they can’t make a distinction between civilians and the military,” Mr. Zwijnenburg said. “It might not be a banned weapon, but we know that militaries don’t always use it as intended.”
Establishing that white phosphorus has been used intentionally against civilians can be difficult. A Human Rights Watch report in 2009 found that the Israeli military had repeatedly used these munitions over densely populated parts of Gaza. Four years later, after international pressure from rights organizations, the Israeli military announced that it would significantly reduce its use of white phosphorus.
John Ismay contributed reporting from Washington.
