Post-Inauguration Poetry And Demands For Tribunal On Israeli War Crimes: "I’m going to die. I want to pray. I saw my daughter-in-law melt away."

"In early January, a week into Israel’s war in Gaza, the home of Sabah Abu Halima was hit by an Israeli shell. Ms. Abu Halima, the matriarch of a farming family in the northern Gaza area of Beit Lahiya, was caught in an inferno that burned her husband and four of their nine children to death. …

Amnesty International said it found “indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north.” In a statement, it said its investigators “saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still-burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli Army.” It called such use a likely war crime and demanded a full international investigation.

In Gaza, Ms. Abu Halima said that when her family was hit, “fire came from the bodies of my husband and my children.” “The children were screaming, ‘Fire! Fire!’ and there was smoke everywhere and a horrible, suffocating smell,” she said. “My 14-year-old cried out, ‘I’m going to die. I want to pray.’ I saw my daughter-in-law melt away.” ...

Ethan Bronner “Outcry Erupts Over Reports That Israel Used Phosphorus Arms on Gazans” New York Times January 21, 2009

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Amnesty International Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza civilian areas

Photo credit: White Phosphorus Bomb Victim photograph from the War Remnants Museum (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. Copyright controlled.