Israel Used White Phosphorus in Lebanon, Now No One Can Go Home

As Israel issued new evacuation orders this week for residents of 12 towns and villages in southern Lebanon and followed them with fresh airstrikes, concerns are growing that conditions are being created to prevent displaced civilians from returning to their homes.

Beyond the destruction caused by ongoing military operations, large areas of southern Lebanon remain contaminated by white phosphorus, a substance that poses severe health and environmental risks long after fighting ends.

Israel’s Way to Ready the Land for Occupation

Israel has effectively prevented many residents of southern Lebanon from returning to their homes by saturating large areas with white phosphorus, leaving behind a serious health risk, as well as long-lasting environmental contamination.

White phosphorus spontaneously ignites on contact with air and is exceptionally difficult to extinguish.

When the shell bursts in the air, it scatters 116 white phosphorus-filled pieces over a wide area, where they fall and burn wherever they land.

According to the World Health Organization, contact with flesh causes severe burns. Inhaling the smoke causes respiratory and eye injuries.

"The harm that white phosphorus causes is horrific," Bonnie Docherty, a senior arms adviser at Human Rights Watch, told The New York Times.

"It inflicts burns that can penetrate to the bone. Wounds can reignite when bandages are removed, and remnants of the substance are exposed to oxygen."

Human Rights Watch separately verified and geolocated eight images showing airburst white phosphorus munitions over residential parts of Yohmor on March 3, with civil defense workers responding to fires in at least two homes and one car.

Lebanon has filed four letters with the United Nations and the Security Council on the issue since October 2023.

One letter dated July 3, 2024, cites government figures showing more than 600 fires broke out across southern Lebanon as a result of its use.

In the year following the October 7 attacks alone, independent researcher Ahmad Beydoun documented white phosphorus sightings in Lebanon more than 200 times.

Israel uses American-made 155-millimeter M825A1 artillery projectiles and denies deploying the substance in violation of the laws of war.

The IDF told NYT its "procedures require that such shells are not used in densely populated areas, subject to certain exceptions," adding they are used for smoke screens only.

The military had no comment on the specific incidents in Nabatieh, Qlayaa, Khiam and Tyre when provided with coordinates.

Evacuation Orders Expand as Destruction Continues

As the documented destruction of Lebanese villages continues to mount, Israel issued new evacuation orders Wednesday for residents of 12 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, including areas north of the Litani River, beyond its current zone of occupation.

Airstrikes followed the evacuation orders.

More than 1 million Lebanese, nearly one-fifth of the country’s entire population, remain displaced.

"So this is dozens of villages that now no one can technically access. They're calling it a 'forward defensive zone,'" Lylla Younes, an investigative journalist based in Beirut, told Democracy Now.

"There's nothing defensive about it. It's an offensive operation, and they're using the word 'cleanse' to describe what they're doing there. They're just bulldozing homes."