The “media buzz” to which Israel claims to have bowed began on the morning of January 5. The Times broke news that Israel was using white phosphorus against Gaza and carried a photograph of the distinctive white plumes above densely populated civilian streets. The Israeli military was quick to deny the story, but as the days and weeks wore on, the evidence mounted.
Sheera Frenkel, a Times correspondent in Israel, first heard that Israel was using the incendiary weapon from a former military source. Michael Evans, the defence editor of The Times, then showed defence experts photographs of the shells exploding. They confirmed the finding.
White phosphorus itself is not illegal if used on the battlefield against combatants. Its primary use is as a smokescreen for advancing troops. The controversy in this case was its use in civilian areas where particles of ignited white phosphorus could fall on non-combatants, burning them through to the bone.
Israel's refusal to allow journalists to enter Gaza complicated efforts to follow up the story. On January 8 The Times published accounts from Palestinian doctors contacted by telephone in Gaza of casualties with “strange, very deep burns”.
Times correspondents later established incontrovertible proof that white phosphorus shells were being used after tracing the serial numbers of shells photographed on both sides of the conflict - first stacked beside an Israeli howitzer on January 4, then later partially exploded on the Gazan side.
On January 14 The Times reported the accounts of Israeli soldiers attesting to the use of white phosphorus. The next day, the compound of the United Nations relief agency in Gaza was hit by what UN officials testified were white phosphorus shells.
With Gazan hospitals unable to cope with this kind of burn, victims able to travel were taken to Egypt. Frenkel travelled to Cairo to find some of the worst injured, including the 14-year-old Mahmoud Mattar, one of dozens of victims who have since been traced.
On January 19 Amnesty International announced that it had also found proof of white phosphorus being used in civilian areas - it discovered shell remnants still smouldering in streets and alleyways.
Two days later the Israeli military finally admitted its use of white phosphorus and ordered an inquiry.
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