Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing war crimes during its recent 23-day assault of the Gaza Strip.
The group said white phosphorus was dropped by IDF aircraft on built-up civilian areas, contravening the rules laid down in the Geneva Convention about use of incendiary devices.
It also blamed the Jewish State's main ally, America, for supplying many of the weapons used during the conflict, and called on US president Barack Obama to halt military cooperation between the two countries.
Amnesty delivered the report precisely one month after Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires in Gaza.
Its fact-finding missions unearthed evidence that Israeli troops "used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes".
Spokesperson Donatella Rovera concluded that these attacks caused "the death of hundreds of children and other civilians".
White phosphorus is commonly used to lay smokescreens in the battlefield. Deployment of the incendiary device is legal on open ground, but Protocol III of the Geneva Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons states that it cannot be used in built-up civilian areas.
The weapon can stick to human skin and is capable of burning its way through to the bone in a matter of seconds.
Noting that fragments from white phosphorous munitions had been found in civilian areas, Amnesty lawyer Malcolm Smart urged the UN Security Council to "impose an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel".
Under a ten-year agreement reached with former US president George W Bush, America is due to send $30 billion in military aid to Israel by 2017.
"As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights," Mr Smart said. "The Obama administration should immediately suspend US military aid to Israel."
But the human rights group did not reserve its criticism solely for Israel. It also accused Hamas of breaching international law by instructing militants to fire missiles indiscriminately into southern Israel.
"Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets that had been smuggled in or made of components from abroad at civilian areas in Israel," Ms Rovera noted in the report.
"Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime, and caused several civilian deaths."
An estimated 1,300 people lost their lives in the 23-day conflict, which was triggered when Hamas marked the end of a six-month truce with Israel by resuming cross-border rocket attacks. The Jewish State responded with overwhelming military might to quell the barrage.
And in a clear indication that Amnesty's findings may be accurate, both sides have caustically rejected them out of hand.
Speaking to Reuters, Mark Regev, the spokesman for outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, said the report was "fundamentally flawed" because it relied on data supplied by Hamas. The militant group reacted by saying that it also felt the study was "unfair".
Since 2002, Israel has received over $20 billion in military and security aid from America. Hamas' arsenal is largely made up of home-made missiles, but it is known to include weapons developed in Syria and Iran.
The group said white phosphorus was dropped by IDF aircraft on built-up civilian areas, contravening the rules laid down in the Geneva Convention about use of incendiary devices.
It also blamed the Jewish State's main ally, America, for supplying many of the weapons used during the conflict, and called on US president Barack Obama to halt military cooperation between the two countries.
Amnesty delivered the report precisely one month after Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires in Gaza.
Its fact-finding missions unearthed evidence that Israeli troops "used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes".
Spokesperson Donatella Rovera concluded that these attacks caused "the death of hundreds of children and other civilians".
White phosphorus is commonly used to lay smokescreens in the battlefield. Deployment of the incendiary device is legal on open ground, but Protocol III of the Geneva Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons states that it cannot be used in built-up civilian areas.
The weapon can stick to human skin and is capable of burning its way through to the bone in a matter of seconds.
Noting that fragments from white phosphorous munitions had been found in civilian areas, Amnesty lawyer Malcolm Smart urged the UN Security Council to "impose an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel".
Under a ten-year agreement reached with former US president George W Bush, America is due to send $30 billion in military aid to Israel by 2017.
"As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights," Mr Smart said. "The Obama administration should immediately suspend US military aid to Israel."
But the human rights group did not reserve its criticism solely for Israel. It also accused Hamas of breaching international law by instructing militants to fire missiles indiscriminately into southern Israel.
"Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets that had been smuggled in or made of components from abroad at civilian areas in Israel," Ms Rovera noted in the report.
"Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime, and caused several civilian deaths."
An estimated 1,300 people lost their lives in the 23-day conflict, which was triggered when Hamas marked the end of a six-month truce with Israel by resuming cross-border rocket attacks. The Jewish State responded with overwhelming military might to quell the barrage.
And in a clear indication that Amnesty's findings may be accurate, both sides have caustically rejected them out of hand.
Speaking to Reuters, Mark Regev, the spokesman for outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, said the report was "fundamentally flawed" because it relied on data supplied by Hamas. The militant group reacted by saying that it also felt the study was "unfair".
Since 2002, Israel has received over $20 billion in military and security aid from America. Hamas' arsenal is largely made up of home-made missiles, but it is known to include weapons developed in Syria and Iran.
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