US lawmaker Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress and a rising Democrat, has decried Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza.

“My heart breaks as more innocent lives are killed. People in Gaza are calling it hell on earth. [Two] million people live there, half of them being children,” Frost wrote in a social media post.

“Israel must follow international law which prohibits the use of white phosphorus, bombing civilians and collective punishment.”

Human Rights Watch had confirmed earlier that Israel had used white phosphorus in Gaza and south Lebanon in recent days.

International law prohibits deploying the highly incendiary munition in densely populated areas because of the risk it poses to civilians.