The Use of White Phosphorus Munitions in Urban Environments [electronic resource].

Forensic Architecture Goldsmiths, University of London 2012

Open access content

During the 2008–2009 Gaza conflict, known in Israel as Operation Cast Lead, video footage captured a hitherto little-known type of airborne munition: low, luminous clouds, arriving with a thunderclap, often less than one hundred metres above the roofline. ‘Tentacles’ of cloud, arcing slowly toward the ground in a loose cone shape, burning through any surface they encounter as they descend, often igniting secondary fires. The clouds were the result of white phosphorus shells. White phosphorus can cause severe injuries, burning directly through skin and bone. On contact with oxygen, it produces a toxic, irritant smoke. On one occasion during the conflict, the shells set ablaze a UN school where civilians were seeking shelter. Israel initially denied having used white phosphorus in the conflict. But when images of the distinctive clouds began to circulate in the public domain, they claimed instead to have used white phosphorus as a ‘smoke screen’, and ‘in compliance with international law’. Forensic Architecture (FA) was commissioned by the human rights group Yesh-Gvul to analyse the general features of white phosphorus munitions. The analysis would form part of a civil society effort to demand the prohibition of the weapon. We examined videos from the 2008–2009 Gaza conflict, and from Fallujah, Iraq, where US forces had deployed against the Iraqi army in white phosphorus in 2004. Within a parametric model, we simulated projectiles detonating over various configurations of a generic urban environment. We concluded that in Gaza, white phosphorus was likely used to harass and terrorise citizens in order to clear neighbourhoods, rather than as a ‘smoke screen’, as the Israeli military had claimed. We presented our report to delegates at a November 2012 meeting of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), as part of an advocacy event organised by Human Rights Watch. No agreement was reached at the meeting, though many state representatives responded enthusiastically
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Space (Architecture)
War
Military art and science

Text

Forensic Architecture
SITU Research
Eyal Weizman
Francesco Sebregondi
Chris Cobb-Smith