An investigation by open-source researcher Ahmad Baydoun highlights Israel’s use of white phosphorus munitions during the recent conflict with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon between October 2023 and November 2024. Although not explicitly prohibited by international law, the use of white phosphorus is regulated as an incendiary weapon, and its use in densely populated areas is banned.

Ahmad Baydoun is an open source intelligence (OSINT) researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The study he led mapped 248 Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon by geolocating photos and videos and gathering accounts from residents.

Baydoun told our team: "According to my research, 91 percent of white phosphorus strikes took place before Israeli forces entered southern Lebanon in October 2024, which contradicts the official Israeli version. Furthermore, 39 percent of all phosphorus strikes we documented took place over civilian areas, 16 percent over agricultural land, and only 44 percent in uninhabited areas or areas far from residents.”