Israel Accused of War Crimes Over Phosphorus Use

As Palestinians yesterday counted the human cost of the conflict, Israel was again accused of war crimes for using white phosphorus munitions.

"Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely populated residential neighborhoods is inherently indiscriminate," said Donatella Rovera, a researcher with Amnesty International. "Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime."

The UN and Human Rights Watch have made similar claims about the use of white phosphorus in the three-week conflict. Amnesty sent a British weapons expert, Chris Cobb-Smith, into Gaza following the ceasefire at the weekend. He found widespread evidence of the use of the incendiary material.

"We saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still-burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," he said in a statement yesterday.

"White phosphorus is a weapon intended to provide a smokescreen for troop movements on the battlefield. It is highly incendiary, air burst and its spread effect is such that it should never be used on civilian areas."

Saudi Arabia yesterday pledged a donation of $1bn (£691m) to help rebuild the Gaza Strip at an Arab summit in Kuwait, where divisions over the Israeli offensive flared publicly again.

Speaking in Kuwait, King Abdullah, leading the conservative, pro-western camp in the region, faced his rival, the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, to appeal for unity.

The king also warned that a 2002 peace initiative offering Israel the recognition of all Arab states would not stay on the table for ever. But Assad, a leading supporter of Hamas, demanded Israel be branded "a terrorist state" for its assault on Gaza and urged Arabs to "declare unequivocal support for the Palestinian resistance".