The UN today accused Israel of having used white phosphorus, an incendiary chemical substance capable of causing "horrific and painful injuries", on at least 24 occasions in the ongoing war in Gaza.
In a report released in Geneva, Switzerland, the UN Human Rights Office also once again considered Israeli forces as possible perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 32-page report, which includes testimonies from medical professionals in Gaza, focuses mainly on six months of the conflict, between November 2023 and April 2024, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
The UN recorded six uses of white phosphorus in the capital of Gaza, nine in the center of the Gaza Strip, four in the north, three in Khan Younis and two in Beit Lahiya, some of which were in refugee camps.
The office headed by High Commissioner Volker Turk "verified an incident on 25 December in which a baby was burned by white phosphorus at a school in the Al Bureij camp".
Although it is not considered a chemical weapon, the use of white phosphorus should be prohibited under conventions that prohibit the use of weapons "with indiscriminate effects" or that cause "unnecessary suffering and superfluous injury", according to the UN.
Non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have previously denounced the use of white phosphorus by Israel in Gaza, but this is one of the first UN documents to contain such an accusation in the current war.
During the Gaza conflict in early 2009, the so-called Goldstone Report, prepared by a UN fact-finding mission, also accused Israel of using this incendiary substance.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), white phosphorus burns instantly when it comes into contact with oxygen and is very difficult to extinguish.
The substance is also prone to sticking to skin and clothing, causing "deep and severe burns, even penetrating to the bone", the WHO said.
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which has also spread to Lebanon, has already left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians, and destroyed much of the Gaza Strip's infrastructure.
The conflict was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
The extremist Palestinian group has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
