White House ‘concerned’ at reports Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack

The United States is concerned about reports Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.

“We’ve seen the reports. Certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more,” Kirby told reporters on Air Force One.

Kirby said white phosphorus has a “legitimate military utility” for illumination and producing smoke to conceal movements.

“Obviously any time that we provide items like white phosphorous to another military, it is with the full expectation that it will be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes … and in keeping with the law of armed conflict,” he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, asked about the report that Israel used white phosphorus in Lebanon, said: “The IDF and the entire security establishment acts according to international law. That is how we have acted and how we will act.”

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Monday said the US expects that every country it provides weapons to complies with the laws of war – and Israel is no exception – after Washington on Saturday said it allowed the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel.

Miller also told reporters that US Special Envoy David Satterfield held meetings over the weekend with Israelis asking them to do more on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the health ministry said 18,205 people had now been killed and 49,645 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza in just over two months of warfare.