The Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon have witnessed, in recent hours, airstrikes by Israeli forces on the homes of citizens, institutions, buildings, and various locations, causing significant destruction and leveling them to the ground.

Hundreds of consecutive airstrikes by the Israeli warplanes targeted institutions, locations, and buildings, including the headquarters of the Palestinian telecommunications company in the Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City, leveling it to the ground, and causing significant damage to nearby citizens' homes.

Palestinian media outlets revealed that Israeli forces are using internationally banned white phosphorus bombs during their airstrikes on the territory.

The "Quds" news network clarified in a tweet on the "x" platform: "The occupation forces are using internationally banned phosphorus during their airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip."

White phosphorus bombs are a weapon that works through the mixing of phosphorus with oxygen. White phosphorus is a waxy, transparent, and white substance with a yellowish tint, which has a smell similar to garlic and is made from phosphate.

White phosphorus reacts quickly with oxygen, producing fire and dense white smoke. If an area becomes contaminated with white phosphorus, it settles in the soil or the bottoms of rivers and seas or even on the bodies of fish. When a human body is exposed to white phosphorus, the skin and flesh burn, leaving only bones.

Wars that used white phosphorus bombs

- Used in the Vietnam War.

- The American forces used phosphorus bombs in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004.

- Israel used spheres of this weapon on the Gaza Strip in 2009.

- The U.S.-led coalition struck the city of Mosul in Iraq using phosphorus bombs on June 3, 2017.

- The U.S.-led coalition struck the city of Raqqa in Syria using phosphorus bombs on June 9, 2017.

- Used in the bombing of Gaza in 2021 by the Israeli government.

Damage from white phosphorus bombs

- Burns on the human body to the extent that they can reach the bones, as happened in Fallujah.

- White phosphorus settles in the soil or in the bottoms of rivers and seas, leading to pollution that harms humans.

- One shell kills every living being around it within a radius of 150 meters.

Inhaling this gas leads to the melting of the trachea and lungs.

- The smoke from this phosphorus shell causes severe burns to the face, eyes, and lips of those present in the area, and protection can be achieved by breathing through a cloth dampened with water.

International criminalization of the use of white phosphorus bombs

Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, which relates to certain conventional weapons, prohibits the use of those incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus bombs, against civilian targets, and also restricts their use against military targets adjacent to civilian concentration sites.