The Israelis are fighting dirty. According to the UK Times Online, the main UN compound in Gaza was in flames today after being struck by Israeli artillery fire, and a spokesman said that the building had been hit by shells containing the incendiary agent white phosphorus.
The attack on the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) came as Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, arrived in Israel on a peace mission and plunged Israel’s relations with the world body to a new low.
Mr Ban told reporters in Tel Aviv that he had expressed “strong protest and outrage” to the Israeli Government over the shelling of the compound and was demanding an investigation. He said that Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defense Minister, had told him that it was “a grave mistake.”
I had no clue what white phosphorous shells were, so I did some research and was a little perturbed by what I read, including the fact that the U.S. used it in the Iraqi war.
White phosphorus (WP) is a flare- and smoke-producing incendiary device or smoke-screening agent that is made from a common allotrope of the chemical element phosphorus. White phosphorus bombs and shells are incendiary weapons, but can also be used as offensive anti-personnel flame compounds capable of causing serious burns or death. The agent is used in bombs, artillery and mortars, short-range missiles which burst into burning flakes of phosphorus upon impact.
White phosphorus is commonly referred to in military jargon as “WP.” The slang term “Willy(ie) Pete” or “Willy(ie) Peter”, dating from World War I and common at least through the Vietnam War, is still occasionally heard. White phosphorus weapons are controversial today because of their potential use against civilians. It is not considered a chemical weapon, but in recent years the United States, Israel and Russia have used white phosphorus in combat. Source: Wikipedia
Of course they have denied this, but they ought to learn from the mistakes of the United States and Russia, or even when they met such strong resistance from Hezbollah in the skirmish with Lebanon. The Israelis have made a grave mistake and there should be strong international condemnation of their actions.
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Filed under: Gaza Strip, Hezbollah, Incendiary Device, Israelis, Russia, UN Compound, United States, Weapons, White Phosphorous Shells
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