HRW: Israeli Attack on Hodeidah Port Possible War Crime

The Israeli strikes destroyed 29 of the 41 oil storage tanks at Hodeida port (AFP)
The Israeli strikes destroyed 29 of the 41 oil storage tanks at Hodeida port (AFP)
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HRW: Israeli Attack on Hodeidah Port Possible War Crime

The Israeli strikes destroyed 29 of the 41 oil storage tanks at Hodeida port (AFP)
The Israeli strikes destroyed 29 of the 41 oil storage tanks at Hodeida port (AFP)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday that the Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port last month may amount to a war crime.

“The attacks appeared to cause disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian objects. Serious violations of the laws of war committed willfully, that is deliberately or recklessly, are war crimes,” HRW said in its report.

On July 20, Israel said its warplanes struck Houthi military targets near Hodeidah.

HRW said the airstrike took place a day after a Houthi drone hit Israel's Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring four others, which also may constitute a war crime.

“The Israeli airstrikes, which killed at least six civilians and reportedly injured at least 80 others, hit at least 20 oil storage tanks and two shipping cranes in Hodeidah port in northwest Yemen, as well as a power plant in Hodeidah’s Salif district,” the organization said.

It added that the attacks appeared to cause disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian objects.

“The Israeli attacks on Hodeidah in response to the Houthis’ strike on Tel Aviv could have a lasting impact on millions of Yemenis in Houthi-controlled territories,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Yemenis are already enduring widespread hunger after a decade-long conflict. These attacks will only exacerbate their suffering.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 11 people about the Hodeidah attack, including a Houthi official in Yemen’s oil industry and four UN agency staff with knowledge of the port.

It also analyzed satellite imagery of the targeted locations and photographs of potential weapons remnants collected by the nongovernmental organization Mwatana for Human Rights.

The organization sent its preliminary findings to Israeli authorities on July 31 and to the Houthis on August 7, affirming that neither has replied.

Damages of Israeli Strikes

HRW found that Israeli forces damaged or destroyed at least 29 of the 41 oil storage tanks at Hodeidah port, as well as the only two cranes used for loading and unloading supplies from ships.

The airstrikes also destroyed oil tanks connected to the Hodeidah power plant, causing the power plant to stop operating for 12 hours.

According to HRW, the Hodeidah port is critical for delivering food and other necessities to the Yemeni population, who depend on imports.

About 70% of Yemen’s commercial imports and 80% of its humanitarian assistance passes through Hodeidah port, which United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative Auke Lootsma said was “absolutely crucial to commercial and humanitarian activities.”

Rosemary DiCarlo, under-secretary-general for the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, described the port as a “lifeline for millions of people” that should be “open and operating.”

A UN agency official said that about 3,400 people, all civilians, work at the port. The official said on July 30 that he had not “seen a single new vessel entering the port since the attack, which is an alarming indication” for humanitarian aid provision.

HRW then warned that other Yemeni ports lack the same capacity to manage imports, and the damage and destruction of the oil tanks, loading cranes, and broader damage to the port’s facilities would take significant funding and time to rebuild.

Humanitarian and Environmental Impacts

HRW analysis of satellite imagery found that the oil tanks burned for at least three days, posing environmental concerns.

Musaed Aklan, an environmental expert at the Sanaa Center, a Yemeni research group, said that “the toxic fumes resulting from the burning of thousands of tons of fuel ... undoubtedly pose a serious risk to public health.”

He said that oil leaks from the tanks into surrounding areas “risk contaminating nearby water sources, soil, beaches, and marine habitats.”

A World Food Program (WFP) official said that the organization lost 780,000 liters of fuel in the attack, which it was using to “support hospital generators” and water and sanitation infrastructure across Yemen.

HRW reminded that applicable laws of war prohibit deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian objects.

An attack not directed at a specific military objective is indiscriminate. “An attack is disproportionate if the expected civilian loss is excessive compared to the anticipated military gain of the attack,” it said.

HRW’s report concluded that no information has been made public indicating that weapons or military supplies were being stored at or delivered to the port, or that the oil and electricity were being diverted to the Houthi military, which would make the Israeli attack unlawfully indiscriminate.



Israel Poised to Approve Ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israeli Official Says

 A photo shows destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
A photo shows destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Israel Poised to Approve Ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israeli Official Says

 A photo shows destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
A photo shows destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

Israel looks set to approve a US plan for a ceasefire with Lebanon's Hezbollah on Tuesday, a senior Israeli official said, clearing the way for an end to the conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war 14 months ago.

That optimism was shared by Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib who expressed hope at a G7 meeting in Italy that a ceasefire would be reached by Tuesday night.

Israel's security cabinet is expected to convene later on Tuesday to discuss and likely approve the text at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official said.

This would pave the way for a ceasefire declaration by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, four senior Lebanese sources told Reuters on Monday.

In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday, "We're close" but "nothing is done until everything is done". The French presidency said discussions on a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had made significant progress.

The agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon's army to deploy in the region - a Hezbollah stronghold - within 60 days, officials say. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show "zero tolerance" toward any infraction, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.

The agreement with Lebanon will maintain Israel's freedom of operation there to act in defense to remove threats posed by Hezbollah and enable displaced residents to return safely to their homes in northern Israel, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told Reuters.

The proposal has already won approval in Beirut, where Lebanon's deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab told Reuters on Monday there were no serious obstacles left to start implementing it - unless Netanyahu changed his mind.

Signs of a diplomatic breakthrough have been accompanied by a military escalation. Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday demolished more of Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, while the armed group has kept up rocket fire into Israel.

The widespread destruction left by Israeli airstrikes has brought into focus a huge reconstruction bill awaiting cash-strapped Lebanon, with more than 1 million people displaced and many left homeless heading into winter.

In Israel, a ceasefire will pave the way for 60,000 people to return to homes in the north, which they evacuated as Hezbollah began firing rockets in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas a day after that group's Oct. 7, 2023 assault.

'THE MISSILES ARE CHASING US'

Israel has dealt Hezbollah massive blows since going on the offensive against the group in September, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders, and pounding areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.

"Regarding the ceasefire, I think it will be implemented. Both sides are tired - both sides are tired," said Selim Ayoub, a 37-year-old mechanic from Beirut's southern suburbs.

Hezbollah launched some 250 rockets on Sunday in one of its heaviest barrages yet. The northern Israeli city of Nahariya came under more rocket fire overnight.

"As we were about to sleep, we suddenly heard a huge explosion, the window in our fortified room was shaking," said Ofir Ben David, who was evacuated earlier in the conflict from the Israeli community of Shomera on the Lebanese border.

"The missiles are chasing us all the time."

Diplomacy to end the fighting has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last major war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on Monday that Israel would maintain an ability to strike southern Lebanon under any agreement.

Lebanon has previously objected to Israel being granted such a right, and Lebanese officials have said such language is not included in the draft proposal.

Two Israeli officials told Reuters that Israel has a side agreement with the US allowing it to take action in Lebanon against "imminent threats."

Senior Hezbollah official Mohammad Raad, writing in a Lebanese newspaper on Tuesday, said it was unlikely Israel would "accept any talk about halting its aggression against Lebanon without pressure or without exhausting the option of using force on the ground".

"However, we will wait and see the results of the indirect negotiations," he wrote.

Hezbollah, seen as a terrorist group by Washington, has endorsed its ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to negotiate.

DEATH TOLL

Over the past year, more than 3,750 people have been killed in Lebanon and over one million have been forced from their homes, according to Lebanon's health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.

Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

Biden's administration, which leaves office in January, has emphasized diplomacy to end the Lebanon conflict, even as all negotiations to halt the parallel war in Gaza are frozen.