Who knows?

 

We have pictures of Israeli smoke shells bursting at altitude (which appear to be M825 equivalents) with streamers of smoke decending to ground level and the initial stages of the formation of a smoke screen.  But so far I have not seen any video that documents any secondary fires at any of the locations.

 

We have reports and photos of a few "unusual burns", but nothing to confirm that they were caused by phosphorus.

 

Even if we can confirm all of the above, it still does not indicate a deliberate act.  Undoubtedly several hundred (thousand?) smoke shells have been fired, the odds are at least a few had defective fuses and ejected their contents after impacting the ground.  I do not know the latest statistics, but possibly more than 1% of the rounds fired could detonate late.

 

So basically we have a lot of press and noise, but no proof.

I understand that using it against civilians is a no-no... Is the State of Israel using this stuff against Hamas?

Hamas cannot be considered civilian - by their own choice they are combatants. Enemy combatants.

The International Red Cross (a far more credible organisation than those continually accusing Israel of war crimes) has said it has no evidence of illegal use of WP by Israel.

 

I long ago stopped believing the propaganda headlines about Israel's supposed war crimes. Remember Mohammad Al Dura.

 

Cheers.

We use the word "illegal" to often with regard to war. No State can be expected to 

be restrained merely by treaty when it's own security is at stake and in any case the word

"illegal" can easily be interpreted as an insult to sovereignity. It also implies that a treaty is the same as a

law when it is not even quite the same as a civil contract(as contract law assumes a court that one can appeal two

which has the power to enforce it's decisions).. Why not use old categories instead?

It is just as easy to say WP is "unchivalrous", or "dishonorable" then to say it is illegal.

As a footnote, I don't think Israel uses WP on real civilians. And I don't give a hoot if it uses them on it's enemies.. 

Nothing like Hamasholes being turned into crispy critters.

 

 

swhitebull - of course, if a Grad rocket hit an israeli school filled with kids, the world press would just dismiss it. I really dont give a f-xzz  what the world thinks of Israel's actions at this point.