REPORT: WHITE PHOSPHORUS

Micro Analysis

5.2 Impact Analysis

On 17 January 2009, the Jabalya UNRWA school in Gaza was hit by a series of M825 WP rounds18. The incident was documented by the Agence France Presse photographer Mohammed Abed. In his series of images, the interaction between the WP wedges and the school complex are captured. These photographs are analyzed here to elucidate a series of scenarios, as well as their potential effects, that may be expected at the scale of an inhabited building.

Based on the photographic analysis, a partial enumeration of the expected scenarios is compiled below:

  • Ignition Source:
    The wedge can come to rest on the ground. Depending on the context, this can occur amidst combustible materials (vegetation, vehicles, chemical storage, street furniture) and function as an ignition source. Wedges may also directly strike an individual.
  • Ricocheting Wedges:
    Traveling at high velocities into the dense matrix of an urban environment, individual wedges can ricochet off their initial impact points and come into contact with other surfaces before coming to rest. Wedges can end up tens of meters from their initial point of impact. The ricochet effect compounds the unpredictable ballistic behavior of the projectile by adding to the effective randomness of the initial points of impact of WP wedges, the ulterior randomness of secondary and tertiary points of impacts. The total Coverage Area can also increase as a result of ricochet effect.
  • Balcony Penetration:
    Depending on the angle of entry, the wedge can also hit the facade of a building and penetrate through windows into interior spaces or become trapped on an exterior balcony. The concentration of combustible materials in an interior space, if inhabited or used, entails a high probability for a wedge to become an ignition source, and for a fire to break out. Because the combustion of a wedge can only be stopped by cutting off its oxygen supply, fires can be difficult to extinguish.
  • Incendiary Effects:
    Depending on the type of construction the wedge can either burn or emit smoke until complete consumption of WP occurs or, if in contact with materials such as wood or straw, can function as an ignition source and set the surroundings on fire.
Localized Effects
Ignition Source
Ricocheting Wedges
Balcony Penetration
Incendiary Effects

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