https://www.france24.com/en/israel-...orus-in-residential-parts-of-southern-lebanon Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of "unlawfully" using white phosphorus over residential parts of southern Lebanon last week. White phosphorus ignites on contact with oxygen, can be used as an incendiary weapon and can cause fires, horrific burns, respiratory damage and death.
They probably did, but proving it basically involves proving intent to use it as a weapon. You are leagally allowed to use white phosphorous for specific purposes, like to create obscuring smoke. This essentially makes it extremely improbable to prove in court, meanining you get the same accusations every time Israel using WP (it does in every conflict) but nothing more ever comes of it. The laws preventing using WP as a weapon are essentially toothless. The same laws protect a bunch of legal use cases for WP (mostly to creat smoke screens - it creates thick white smoke in contact with oxygen like nothing else), and to prosecute illegal use you'd basically have to prove intent. Essentially every military conflict involving Israeli ground forces will come with accusations of illegal use of WP, but it'll never progress to being seen in court and Israel will claim burns are "incidental" and secondary, as they always do. People inclined to be pro-Israel will always believe it was justified under the law and feel righteous, and anti-Iraeli people will assume the opposite and feel equally righteous in their indignation. My.personal best estimate is that on a national policy level Israel does use it for smoke purposes but it probably criminally negligent in their obligation to avoid using it where it might cause civilian casualties, but good luck proving that. That doesn't rule out individual use cases where some Merkava commander might load up WP and shoot a residential building, or whatever.
