GAZA STRIP: A Burning Legacy - White Phosphorus in Gaza

ATATRA, GAZA STRIP - JUNE 11: Graffiti by Israeli soldiers written in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian is seen on the chalkboard of a government-run school, destroyed by an Israeli fighter-jet in response to militants launching rockets from its classroom balcony, June 11, 2009, in Atatra, Gaza Strip. The farming village of Atatra in northern Gaza suffered numerous civilian casualties during the recent war in Gaza, after IDF focused extensive operations in the area in response to repeated rocket...
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ATATRA, GAZA STRIP - JUNE 11: Graffiti by Israeli soldiers written in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian is seen on the chalkboard of a government-run school, destroyed by an Israeli fighter-jet in response to militants launching rockets from its classroom balcony, June 11, 2009, in Atatra, Gaza Strip. The farming village of Atatra in northern Gaza suffered numerous civilian casualties during the recent war in Gaza, after IDF focused extensive operations in the area in response to repeated rocket attacks originating from the village. Due to its elevated position in the north, locals said Hamas militants would regularly come to the village and launch rockets into neighbouring Sderot and Ashkelon from a 3-storey government school, (after school-hours), in spite of repeated protests of staff. Not since Fallujah or Grozny has white phosphorus been used so extensively in a civilian area. Phosphorus shells are legal to use as a battlefield obscurant in unpopulated areas, but are banned from use under the UN's Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) where civilians may be harmed.
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