Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack

Remnants of a US-produced white phosphorous smoke round found in Dheira, Lebanon.

Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon that injured at least nine civilians in what a rights group says should be investigated as a war crime, according to a Washington Post analysis of shell fragments found in a small village.

International pressure on Israel to halt its war in Gaza intensified as Israeli tanks and troops pushed into the center of Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. Nine people were reportedly wounded in the incident.

"A journalist working for The Post found remnants of three 155-millimeter artillery rounds fired into Dheira, near the border of Israel, which incinerated at least four homes, residents said," read the investigation.

"The rounds, which eject felt wedges saturated with white phosphorous that burns at high temperatures, produce billowing smoke to obscure troop movements as it falls haphazardly over a wide area."

Reportedly, the lot production codes discovered on the shells match those the US military categorizes domestically produced munitions with. As The Washington Post claims, this proves that they were made by "ammunition depots in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1989 and 1992."