Since Israel did admit using white phosporus bombs in Lebanon in 2006 (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/777549.html), it's not hard to believe they are using them now in Gaza. The use of white phosphorus as a weapon - as opposed to its use as a smokescreen - is banned by the third convention on conventional weapons. Israel is not a signatory to the convention but its military manuals reflect restrictions on its use in that convention. Israeli spokesmen have given ambiguous answers to questions about the use of the shells, saying: "We're using what other armies use and we're not using any weapons that are banned under international law."
But expert accounts and eyewitness descriptions of civilians suffering phosphorus burns are lending weight to suggestions that Israel is using the shells as some kind of weapon. Israel initially claimed that it was not using white phosphorus. It later said that shells being loaded for a howitzer, identified from photographs as phosphorus rounds, were empty shells used for target marking. However, images of the shells exploding earlier this week, and showering burning fragments, have largely been identified as phosphorus.
"We are concerned over its use over a densely populated area," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch and an expert in international law. "Our concern is that it is being air-fired, often at relatively low altitude. We are particularly concerned over how it can cause severe civilian harm."
Link to original: http://www.groundreport.com/Opinion/Israel-is-using-White-Phosphorus-bombs-in-Gaza-str_2
Gaza: Israeli army has crossed all the limits now and without caring about the 1980’s Geneva Convention; it is using the White Phosphorus bombs in the very congested parts of Gaza strip.
The people of the world are in protest against the Israeli aggression in the Gaza strip over the unarmed civilians.
International pressure is increasing on Israel to come to the truce, however, Israel could not show any progress against Hamas.
Gaza health officials reported some 537 Palestinian dead and more than 2000 injured in the attacks.
Hamas militants defying the attacks from the Israeli army fired dozens of rockets in to Israel and Hamas urged the Palestinians to crush the Zionist state.
Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza is worldly condemned and protest rallies were taken out across the world.
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Link to original: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11611
A shell fired by the Israeli military explodes in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel unleashed an artillery bombardment on Gaza today for the first time in its week-long offensive, prompting increased speculation that a ground invasion is about to begin.
Palestinian medical officials also said that an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza mosque had killed 10 people and wounded dozens more. Al Jazeera quoted witnesses as saying there were at least 200 people at prayer inside the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque in northern Gaza when the missile struck.
The Israeli TV station Channel 10 said the entire length of the Gaza Strip was under attack. Palestinian witnesses told Reuters the shelling had caused a large explosion in Gaza City and there were a series of blasts close to the frontier with Israel. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
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