HUMAN Rights Watch (HRW) said the Israeli attack that killed seven Lebanese volunteers was an unlawful act once morest civilians and urged the United States (US) to stop arms sales to Israel.
The Israel-Lebanon border area has been the site of almost daily firefights between the Israeli army and Hamas’s ally, Hezbollah, since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering the war in Gaza. An Israeli attack on an emergency and aid center in the southern village of Habariyeh on March 27 killed seven emergency and aid volunteers.
“It was an unlawful attack on civilians that failed to take all necessary precautions,” HRW said in a statement. “If attacks on civilians are carried out intentionally or recklessly, they must be investigated as war crimes,” he added.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP. But at the time the military said the target was a military compound and the attack killed a significant terrorist agent from Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group close to Hamas, and other terrorists.
HRW said in a statement that they had found no evidence of a military target at the location. In fact, the Israeli strikes targeted residential buildings housing the Emergency and Relief Corps of the Lebanese Relief Association, a nongovernmental humanitarian organization.
Jamaa Islamiya later denied that they had anything to do with the volunteer team and association. They admitted to AFP that they had no affiliation with any Lebanese political organization.
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HRW said the Israeli military’s admission of targeting the center in Habariyeh demonstrated a failure to take all appropriate precautions to verify that the targets were military and avoid loss of civilian life. Therefore, this incident makes the attack unlawful.
Human rights groups say those killed were volunteers. 18-year-old twin brothers were among the dead.
“Family members, the Lebanese Aid Association and civil defense all said that the seven men were civilians and not affiliated with any armed group,” he added.
HRW said images of weapons parts found at the site included Israeli bomb remains and remains of guidance equipment produced by the US-based Boeing company. “Israeli forces used US weapons to carry out attacks that killed seven civilian aid workers in Lebanon who were just doing their jobs,” said HRW Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss.
The human rights group urged the United States to immediately halt arms sales and military aid to Israel in light of evidence that the Israeli military is using US weapons unlawfully. (Z-2)
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