The use of white phosphorus, a controversial killstreak reward in the Call of Duty game series, has recently been dropped on Palestinians in Gaza, sparking discussions about its horrors. This comes after an escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In Modern Warfare 2019, the reboot of the popular Call of Duty series, a 10-person multiplayer killstreak rewards you with white phosphorus , an odorless, waxy chemical you can drop on the battlefield to kill dozens in one fell swoop. It was a controversial addition to an already controversial game series, which has, like others in the genre, historically dehumanized Muslim and Arab people while leaning into its connections with and glorification of the U.S. military.
White phosphorus hasn’t featured in any of the Call of Duty games since. But the chemical, which can cause severe skin and eye burns as well as irritation of the upper respiratory tract according to the World Health Organization, has recently been dropped on Palestinians in Gaza, calling the horrors of its use into conversation yet again. This comes after the October 7 escalation of the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine, when militant Islamist group Hamas attacked Israeli citizens. On that day, Hamas took more than 200 hostages and killed around 1,200 Israelis. Israel responded with forc
Call Of Duty White Phosphorus Killstreak Controversy Israel Palestine Gaza