In the follow-up to the Gaza massacre, the term "white phosphorus" appears at all times. Israel is using this weapon and we know very well what it looks like, which is an artificial rocket bomb that throws and illuminates the whole environment. The mainstream media do not give us more information on this deadly weapon regulated by international law and therefore allowed. Perhaps because, if we look in more detail, we would find it obvious that the III Convention on Classical Weapons that governs this weapon would be obvious. Absurdity, hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of the protocol? Probably.

Under the law, white phosphorus weapons are not included in the list of chemical weapons, but are classified as "protective weapons". However, they cannot be used to attack the enemy, but – and that opens all doors – if conditions are met, their use is permitted: to illuminate the battlefield or to scare the battlefield and to keep all movement.

And that's where Israel is, using the joker to illuminate the battlefield, attacking hundreds of Palestinians with white phosphorus, directing burned children, the elderly, young people or whatever to death or to lifelong pain and trauma. Furthermore, if this reason is denied, it can use another game: in inhabited areas, firearms cannot be thrown from the air to the earth, but from the ground, if the military objective "moves away from the concentration of civil clearances" – more diffuse than "clear" words – and if "all available measures" have been taken to protect civilians, which is the greatest inaccuracy. High, knowing that in the 45 km2 Gaza strip no more than two million Palestinians can leave, we can hardly believe that the bombs are dropped to prevent civilians.

Since 7 October, the Israeli army is launching white phosphorus into Gaza and southern Lebanon, as demonstrated by the NGO Amnesty International. This is not the first time. Israel itself acknowledged its use in 2006 and also did so in Operation Cast Lead 2008-2009, where it also faced the Hamas organization and killed 1,330 civilians in Gaza for 23 days.

White phosphorus traumas or ‘shock and awe’ doctrine

The use of this devastating weapon is not bleak and not just physical, it impacts psychology. This matter gets worse in contact with the air, causing hot flames and terrible toxic fumes. You'll burn everything you're excited about, as far as bodies are concerned, leaving your skin burned to your bones or brain. "In general, we know how to care for a patient with burns and we can't make the situation worse. In these cases it is impossible and also continues to open the wounds, at the hours a white smoke escapes from the body. The operation is the only solution we have," says Dr. Nafez Abou Shaaban, who is admitted to Shifa hospital, which is the hospital that Tsahal has bombed with white phosphorus on November 11.

The most malicious thing is that particles are put in the garments and cause burns to those who come to care for. This is the "drama" of this product, Gaza: pourquoi l'usage de bombes au phosphore blanc est un crime de guerre ["Gaza: why the use of white phosphorous bombs is a war crime"], as explained: "While women, children and dozens of other civilians smoke, their relatives are unable to provide adequate care."

The NGO report Human Rights Watch Ces flammes traversent tout is to better visualize the impact of this weapon. It dates from 2020 and is composed of testimonies collected in Gaza, Afghanistan and Syria. We can read: "They cause sufferings to enable firearms during the attack, even during the following weeks and months. Immense burns cause painful care. They damage the respiratory system and cause emotional distress."

It is not said that it is not a typical burn and that 60-80% of the body is often burned to the bones. Human Rights Watch says that most of the time the death of the assaulted person is immediate, as 10% of his body is Hungarian usually causes death. If you survive, you will need life-long attention and pain. The toxicity of white phosphorus often leads to diseases of the blood, lungs, kidneys and liver.

But it is precisely because it is one of the most effective weapons to maliciously destroy civilians. Gaza: why the use of white phosphorus bombs is a war crime, as explained in the report, one of the pillars of modern wars: the aspiration of civilians.

The report talks about Israel’s war strategy, more specifically the Lead Casting Operation in 2008-2009. This is a very topical report, not least because it highlights the arguments used by Israel in recent days: Sixteen "kidnap citizens" so civilians can use them as some kind of "washer". According to the Italian military and writer Fabio Mini, this argument is "a propaganda used long ago" to camouflage the strategy of the civilian population as a destination.

One of the components of the Shock and Awe doctrine is the transfer of the war camp to the enemy's people. This doctrine was developed by the United States army, in particular by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. The Wade military, on the occasion of the First Gulf War. It is based on the initial contraction of the enemy through the extreme use of force - "the direct use of surprise and panic should threaten the enemy's society and the fear of acting". In addition to the unlimited use of weapons, they target everyday infrastructures such as electricity, the water system, the Internet, hospitals, schools or others. That is also happening to them in Gaza in the eyes of all: the internet has been on the front lines of the world’s media and the media have been cut off by Israel. The health sector in Gaza has been bombed since 7 October more than 250 times, 20 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are completely stationary, figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), and the rest are operating perfectly in conditions of water and electricity shortages, with no medicines or anesthetics.

The report includes the following certification from the book New & Old Wars, published by Mary Kaldor University: "What in the old wars was generally considered unintentional and unjust collateral damage has become the biggest battle of the new wars. (...) The tendency to avoid direct confrontation and to direct violence mainly to civilians is clearly manifested in the dramatic ration of the civilian ration among the victims. At the beginning of the twentieth century, 85-90% of the victims of wars were military. In World War II it was almost half civil. In the late 1990s, the proportions of a hundred years ago were almost signaled, and today almost 80% of the victims are civilians". The book dates back to 1999 and since then there is only a growing trend. To put the proportion of civilians at about 100 per cent in the Gaza Strip.