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.
