Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has determined that the Hamas military was firing
mortar shells filled with phosphorus in attacks on Israel.

Officials said Hamas and its Palestinian militia allies have acquired or
produced hundreds of phosphorus shells in an effort to increase Israeli
casualties. They said the shells were designed to spark fires and destroy
homes and fields.

“We first saw evidence of phosphorus shells in 2011, but we believe that there might have been a decision to increase such attacks,” an official said.

The latest phosphorus attack was reported on Jan. 1. Officials said Palestinian gunners fired two mortar salvos from the Gaza Strip toward farmers in southern Israel.

Two of the shells were said to have contained a phosphorus warhead. A 1980 convention outlawed the firing of phosphorus shells toward civilian targets, and in 2009 Hamas accused Israel of firing phosphorus shells toward Gaza City.

“This letter is written to you as an official complaint in the name of 13,000 residents of the Eshkol Regional Council, regarding the firing of phosphorus shells toward a civilian population,” Haim Jelin, chairman of Israel’s Eshkol Regional Council, said in a letter to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon.

The Jan. 2 letter said the Eshkol region has been a major target of
Hamas over the last decade. Eshkol is a rural region with many of its
residents engaged in farming.

“In the western Negev region lives an entire population that suffers the
consequences of prolonged regional combat, and attention must be paid to
this,” the letter by Jelin said.

In 2010, Hamas introduced the Iranian-origin Nour mortar, with a range
of 10 kilometers. Unlike Hamas rockets and missiles, Nour was said to be
immune to interception by Israel’s new Iron Dome rocket system.

“I request of you to receive this complaint as the internationally
accepted method of protest, in our democratic and enlightened world, for the
purpose of condemning use of illegal weapons and enforcing international
rules even on our neighbors to the west,” Jelin said.

  Ban Ki-Moon, Eshkol Regional Council, Gaza Strip, Haim Jelin, Hamas now firing phosphorus-filled mortar shells into Israel, Negev, Nour-mortar, phosphorus