Israeli army faces accusations of 'war crimes' in Lebanon: HRW report

Human Rights Watch expressed on Tuesday that the "unlawful" Israeli strike on November 5th, which killed three girls and their grandmother and wounded their mother, should be investigated as an apparent war crime.

"This attack by Israeli military forces that struck a car carrying a family fleeing violence shows a reckless disregard for civilian life," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Kaiss added: "Their killing is a violation of the laws of war, and Israel's allies, like the US, should respond to this apparent war crime by demanding accountability for this unlawful strike."

On that day, the Israeli army confessed to carrying out the strike, but according to Human Rights Watch research, they provided no further evidence to explain their claim.

Human Rights Watch interviewed Samir Ayoub, the girls' uncle, and an official of the civil defense team that responded to the attack's site.

Ayoub said: "All people in the town use that road when they go to buy groceries or get supplies," stating that "there are no military targets there."

Human Rights Watch also confirmed that it found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity. "But if there were one, targeting a car carrying civilians, along with the Israeli military's admission of targeting the car while failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, makes the strike unlawful." 

In an interview recorded after the strike, Ayoub expressed: "I told them to play in front of the car since a [surveillance drone] was flying over them. I told them the drone will see you now and know there are children in the car."

According to Human Rights Watch, the recent Israeli strikes come amid increasing tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border.

"As of November 10th, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have reportedly killed at least ten civilians, in addition to at least 70 Hezbollah fighters. Rocket strikes and other attacks into Israel by Hezbollah and Palestinian groups have reportedly killed at least two civilians and six soldiers," it added.

The organization called on the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, as Israel's allies, to stop military assistance and arms sales to Israel. 

Simultaneously, Iran and other governments should halt the provision of arms to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This action is imperative due to the genuine risk that such weaponry may be used to commit serious abuses.

Human Rights Watch confirmed that the attack on a vehicle with fleeing civilians demonstrates the Israeli army's "reckless disregard" for its responsibility to differentiate between civilian and military objects and the failure to take sufficient safeguards to prevent the death of civilians.

"Israeli authorities have long failed to credibly investigate their own serious abuses, even when they acknowledge they carried them out," Kaiss said. 

Adding that: "With Israeli authorities continuing to commit abuses with impunity, Israel's allies should insist on accountability for Israel's violations of the laws of war and this apparent war crime."