The U.S. is investigating several Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that killed dozens of civilians and the possible use by Israel of white phosphorus in Lebanon, as part of a probe by the State Department to determine whether America’s closest ally has misused its bombs and missiles to kill civilians, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The process shows the dilemmas facing the Biden administration, which so far has ruled out putting conditions on arms transfers to pressure Israel, but faces increasing calls from some members of Congress to do so as the war wears on.
White phosphorus, which can be used either for marking, signaling, and obscuring, or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects, has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk.
Read more at Wallstreet journal.com
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