Israel accused of using white phosphorus in attacks in southern Lebanon. The plan presented by Biden to end the war in Gaza that could lead to the fall of Netanyahu.

Israel accused of using white phosphorus in attacks in southern Lebanon. The plan presented by Biden to end the war in Gaza and possibly lead to Netanyahu's downfall. Mohammad Hammud was at home with his wife in a village on the southern border of Lebanon when Israel bombed the area earlier this year. He immediately realized it was a different kind of attack. "A fire broke out in front of the house, there was a strange smell (...) we had trouble breathing," he recounted over the phone to AFP from his home in Hula, near the border with Israel. The Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement Hezbollah have been facing off daily since Hamas' attack on October 7 against Israel, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. Lebanon accuses Israel of using controversial white phosphorus projectiles in attacks that, according to authorities, harm civilians and the environment. White phosphorus, a substance that ignites upon contact with oxygen, can be used to create smoke screens or illuminate battlefields. However, it is also used as an incendiary weapon and can cause fires, terrible burns, respiratory damage, organ failure, and even death. "The extensive use of white phosphorus by Israel in southern Lebanon puts civilians at serious risk and contributes to the displacement of civilians," Human Rights Watch stated in a report released on Wednesday. The organization said it "verified the use of white phosphorus munitions by Israeli forces in at least 17 municipalities in the south since October," including five cases in residential areas. Photographs from AFP taken on at least 10 different occasions between October and April show eerie columns of smoke shaped like an octopus, consistent with white phosphorus. The Israeli army said in October that its procedures require white phosphorus munitions "not to be used in densely populated areas, with certain exceptions." "This is in compliance and goes beyond what is required by international law," they stated in a press release. The Lebanese National News Agency has frequently reported Israeli bombings with phosphorus, sometimes causing fires. The hospital told AFP that four civilians, two of them women, were admitted to intensive care for "choking and severe respiratory distress due to white phosphorus." The Lebanese Ministry of Health has recorded 178 people affected by "chemical exposure to white phosphorus" since October. The figure does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Doctors at three other hospitals in southern Lebanon told AFP that they have treated people with respiratory symptoms of white phosphorus exposure. Brian Castner, a weapons researcher at Amnesty International, said that "using white phosphorus in civilian-populated areas may constitute indiscriminate attacks, which are a violation of international humanitarian law." "If there are civilians injured or killed, it could be a war crime," he added. Soldiers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon also detected white phosphorus in their facilities, an anonymous UN official told AFP. The border clashes have left over 450 dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally, mostly fighters but also 88 civilians. Beirut filed a claim with the UN in October denouncing Israel's use of white phosphorus as "endangering the lives of innocent civilians and causing extensive environmental degradation." The use of white phosphorus has also caused alarm among farmers in southern Lebanon, whose lands have been burned. Many fear possible soil contamination and damage to their crops.