Israeli bombing of Gaza surpasses US yearly bombings of Afghanistan

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Washington Post
13 Oct 2023 06:23
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Military analysts say the number of bombs dropped by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip is staggering within a six-day period.

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo)

Marc Garlasco, a military advisor at the Dutch organization PAX for Peace and a former UN war crimes investigator in Libya, pointed out that "Israel is dropping [bombs on Gaza] in less than a week what the U.S. was dropping in Afghanistan in a year, in a much smaller, much more densely populated area."

On Thursday, the Israeli occupation air force claimed that it dropped 6,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip. According to military analysts, this number is staggering within a six-day period.

According to US military records, the most extensive amount of bombs and other munitions deployed in a single year during the Afghanistan war slightly exceeded 7,423, as stated by Garlasco.

Garlasco was involved in strategizing airstrikes for the Pentagon in the course of the US invasion of Iraq.

A UN report indicates that over the entire duration of the conflict in Libya, the NATO military alliance documented the release of over 7,600 bombs and missiles from aircraft.

This comes as Human Rights Watch confirmed that the Israeli occupation used white phosphorus in its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon on October 10 and 11.

In a Q&A article about white phosphorus, Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about the Israeli occupation's use of phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, highlighting the serious and long-term risks it poses to civilians.

Human Rights Watch substantiated these claims with video evidence from Lebanon and Gaza, which depicted multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.

White phosphorus, with its dual capability for marking, signaling, and obscuring or as an incendiary weapon, can cause severe burns to individuals and ignite structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity.

Evidence from the ground, including eye witness reports from Palestinians in Gaza, and numerous photos and videos like the one below, strongly indicate apartheid Israel is using white phosphorus in heavily populated civilian areas in Gaza.#GazaUnderAttack #StopIsraeliGenocide pic.twitter.com/uBCc3mKTnG
— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) October 12, 2023

The use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas globally, significantly heightens the danger to civilians and constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law's prohibition on needlessly endangering civilians.

International law explicitly forbids the use of phosphorus, and such actions are considered violations by the occupying forces. It's worth noting that assaults employing air-delivered incendiary weapons in civilian areas are outlawed under Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Lama Fakih, Director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch emphasized, "Whenever white phosphorus is employed in densely populated civilian zones, it presents a grave risk of agonizing burns and enduring suffering."

She further explained, "White phosphorus is inherently indiscriminate when airburst in densely populated urban regions, as it can ignite buildings and cause severe harm to civilians."

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that more than 1,500 Gazans were killed and around 6,600 others have been injured in the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

More than 423,000 people have now been forcibly displaced in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said, as heavy Israeli bombardments continue to hit the Strip, razing houses to the ground and committing massacres against the Palestinian people.

As of late Thursday, the number of displaced people in Gaza had risen by an additional 84,444 people and reached 423,378, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on Friday.