Israel burns olive trees in southern Lebanon with white phosphorus bombs

Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan said that Israeli shelling with internationally banned white phosphorus bombs on southern Lebanon has led to the burning of more than 60,000 old olive trees.

During a meeting at the UN headquarters in the capital Beirut, the minister said: “The south of Lebanon is bombed on a daily basis (by Israel) with white phosphorus bombs, which is internationally banned.”

The shelling caused “more than 657 fires and damaged more than 6,000 dunams (one thousand square meters) of forests and agricultural land”, Haj Hassan said.

The shelling included “the burning of more than 2,000 dunums completely and more than 60,000 old olive trees”, Haj Hassan said.

Phosphorus bombs are an internationally prohibited weapon under the 1980 Geneva Convention, which prohibits the use of white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against humans and the environment.

In the wake of a devastating war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip since October 7, “Hezbollah” and Palestinian factions in Lebanon have exchanged sporadic bombardment with the Israeli army on a daily basis since the beginning of the war.