- Video evidence shows Hezbollah repeatedly used inherently inaccurate weapons in attacks
- Three attacks in October 2024 killed 8 civilians and injured at least 16 others, constituting war crimes
- “Hezbollah’s reckless use of unguided rocket salvos caused civilian casualties” – Agnès Callamard
Over the past three months, Amnesty International has investigated crimes under international law committed by Israel during Operation Northern Arrow, which began on 23 September 2024. , causing attacks on villages and towns across Lebanon, killing more than 500 people. Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets into Israel.
The investigation focuses on months of Hezbollah attacks by firing unguided rockets into densely populated civilian areas in Israel in violation of international humanitarian law. Amnesty International has previously documented how Israel carried out illegal airstrikes that killed 49 civilians, must be investigated as a war crime, and issued inadequate evacuation warnings to civilians in violation of its obligations under international law.
Amnesty International documented three Hezbollah rocket attacks on civilian areas in Israel in October 2024, which killed eight civilians and injured at least 16 others and must be investigated as war crimes.
Two weapons experts from Amnesty International analyzed 12 videos produced by Hezbollah showing examples of such rocket launches, as well as hundreds of statements posted by Hezbollah on Telegram channels explaining the targets of the attacks. Weeks before the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah announced rocket launches into towns including Haifa, Tiberias, Acre, Safed, Kamil, Kaffa Giladi and the Krayot region. In some cases they insist their targets are military, but in others they say they attack civilian cities or towns generally.
Amnesty International found unguided 122mm, 220mm, 240mm and 302mm multiple launch rocket systems in the film. Such rockets are inherently inaccurate, as it is impossible to target them with any degree of confidence or determine their exact striking location. The use of such weapons in areas with concentrated civilian populations therefore violates the fundamental principle of distinction under international humanitarian law.
“Hezbollah’s reckless use of unguided rocket volleys caused civilian casualties and destroyed and damaged civilian homes in Israel,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said.
“The use of these inherently inaccurate weapons in or near densely populated civilian areas amounts to prima facie evidence Violations of international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian objects are not targets and must be protected. Direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks causing civilian casualties must be investigated as war crimes.
Following the attacks and atrocities committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began firing into the occupied territory of Shaba’a Farms on October 8, 2023, in “solidarity” Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to carry out cross-border attacks.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has significant consequences for civilians, particularly in Lebanon. Israeli attacks across Lebanon have killed approximately 4,047 people, including entire families, injured another 16,000, and displaced approximately 1.2 million people, including through the use of misleading and inadequate “evacuation” warnings. Amnesty International has documented how in recent months the Israeli military has carried out four illegal air strikes on residential buildings in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and northern Lebanon, killing a total of 49 civilians and must be investigated as a war crime.
Israel has also targeted branches of Qard al-Hassan, a financial institution affiliated with Hezbollah, which has more than 30 branches in densely populated neighborhoods across the country, in violation of international humanitarian law because it is not a legal institution. military objectives.
Hezbollah attacks in Israel have killed more than 100 people and displaced an estimated 63,000 residents of northern Israel. Hezbollah has fired thousands of inherently inaccurate rockets into Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Military research institutions estimate that of the approximately 100,000 to 200,000 long-range weapons in Hezbollah’s inventory, more than 95% are unguided weapons. Israel has the Iron Dome air defense system capable of intercepting and destroying rockets.
Civilians killed in strikes
While most Israeli civilians have been evacuated from some northern border areas hit by Hezbollah rocket attacks, Amnesty International documented three Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli towns that killed eight civilians and injured at least 16 others, escalating the conflict After late September 2024.
At around 10:40 a.m. on October 29, 2024, Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel, one of which hit Mohammed Naim, a 23-year-old Palestinian Israeli citizen in Tashhar (Tarshiha) house, leading to his death. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said 13 other people were injured in the attack.
Mohammed’s father, Yasser Naim, told Amnesty International that his son was heading to a shelter at home with his two younger siblings when the rockets struck. Mohammed Naim was killed just seconds away from reaching safety at the shelter. Yasser Naim said dozens of rockets targeted the town and Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system failed to intercept some of the incoming warheads. “Not every family will be protected,” he added.
Initially, Hezbollah announced on their Telegram channel that the target was the village of Kfar Vradim. However, hours later, after news broke that a Palestinian Israeli citizen had been killed, Hezbollah revised its statement and released a video claiming they were targeting Israeli soldiers in Ma’alot al-Tashhar.
According to a statement posted on Telegram, on October 31, 2024, Hezbollah fired 18 inherently inaccurate rockets at towns on both sides of the border, including the Israeli cities of Kamil and Acre and the outskirts of Haifa Clayot. The Israeli military said a total of 90 rockets hit Israeli territory in these attacks. A total of seven civilians were killed in two of the attacks. Hezbollah said the intended targets of the attacks were Israeli forces south of Khiyam in Lebanon and the Israeli Kreot area.
The first attack hit an orchard in the Israeli town of Metura, not far away, by Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese side of the border in Khiam, and killed five civilians on a farm: Israeli men Omar Weinstein and The four Thai migrant workers are named Akkapon Wannasai, Prayat Pilasram, Kaweesak Papanang and Thana Tichantuek. A sixth person was injured.
In the second attack, Mina Shafiq Hassoun, 60, and her son Karmi Raja Hassoun, 30, both Palestinian citizens of Israel, They were killed while picking olives in an orchard between Shefa-‘Amr and Kiryat Ata. Two other people were injured.
Hezbollah released a video it said showed weapons being fired and claimed the target was the civilian suburb of Kreiot on the Israeli coast. The attack was carried out using unguided 220mm Fadi-1 rockets. The inherent imprecision of these rockets and the fact that their use against military targets even in civilian areas is illegal is demonstrated by the fact that the actual attack location was approximately seven kilometers from the declared target.
international humanitarian law
Under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict must always distinguish between civilians or civilian objects and combatants or military objectives. Attacks can only be directed against combatants and military targets. Attacks must not target civilians. Direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as the use of inherently inaccurate munitions targeting areas where civilians are located, constitute indiscriminate attacks and violate international humanitarian law. While in some cases Israel has deployed its forces in or near civilian areas, this does not absolve Hezbollah of its responsibility to take feasible precautions at all times to avoid or in any case minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure. of destruction.
The use of explosive weapons with wide-area lethality near densely populated residential areas, such as rocket salvos containing explosive warheads that affect a wide area, may violate the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks and may result in disproportionate attacks.
Targeting the civilian population or civilian objects and launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in civilian casualties is a war crime.
background
Amnesty International recently released a major report concluding that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Amnesty International also found evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli forces, including direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as other unlawful attacks and collective punishment of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip.