Human rights experts say the attack is a violation of foreign law and that the U. S. weapons is defying the Leahy Act of 1997.
Israel used a U. S. weapon in an airstrike in March that killed seven medical staff in southern Lebanon, according to a Guardian investigation into shrapnel discovered at the time of the attack, described by Human Rights Watch as a violation of foreign law.
Seven volunteer rescuers, aged between 18 and 25, were killed on 27 March in the attack on an ambulance belonging to the Lebanese Rescue Association in the southern Lebanese city of al-Habariyeh.
The Guardian tested the remains of an Israeli 500-pound MPR bomb and a US-made Joint Directional Attack Munition (JDAM), recovered by first responders at the scene of the attack. The shrapnel photos sent through the Guardian were later verified through Human Rights. Look and an independent weapons expert.
JDAMs are steering kits produced through the U. S. aerospace corporation Boeing that attach to 500- to 2000-pound “dumb bombs” and turn them into GPS-guided precision missiles. They played a key role in Israel’s war effort in Gaza and Lebanon, and were one of the largest munitions ordered through the United States.
Shrapnel recovered from the attack on Al-Habariyeh included a fragment with a script identifying it as an “MPR 500 bomb,” as well as parts of a JDAM that attached the bomb to the third formula and remnants of its engine.
Human Rights Watch said its own investigation concluded that the attack on the fitness center was illegal and has implications for U. S. military aid to Israel.
“Israel’s assurances that U. S. weapons are legal are not credible. Given that Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Lebanon continues to violate foreign law, the Biden administration deserves to suspend arms sales to Israel without delay,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanese researcher at Human Rights Watch. .
Five days after the attack on fitness staff in Lebanon, Israel killed seven other aid workers hired through World Central Kitchen in Gaza. The attack sparked global outrage and was called a “grave mistake” by Israel.
The revelation of Israel’s use of U. S. weapons in an illegal attack comes as U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to submit a report to Congress on May 8 on whether he finds that Israel’s assurances are credible that its use of U. S. weapons violates U. S. or foreign law.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Conn. , said the attack on al-Habariyeh will be reflected in Blinken’s report to Congress.
“These reports are deeply troubling and will have to be investigated very well by the Biden administration, and their findings will indeed be included in the NSM-20 report that will be presented to Congress on May 8,” Van Hollen said in an email. .
Public pressure is mounting to restrict or prevent U. S. arms transfers to Israel, as more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed through the Israeli army’s operation in Gaza, introduced in reaction to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis.
In Lebanon, the attack on al-Habariyah shook the country, and many others came to pay their respects at the funerals of young medical workers: brothers Hussein and Ahmad al-Shaar, 18; Abdulrahman al-Shaar, 19; Mohamed Hamoud, 21; Mohammad al-Farouk Aatwi, 23; Abdallah Aatwi, 24; and Baraa Abu Kaiss, 24.
The ambulance centre was set up in this small village in southern Lebanon at the end of October, as cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began to intensify.
The airstrike took place without caution between 00:30 and 01:00, while volunteers were on duty for the night shift. No fighting was reported in the domain that day.
The 500-pound bomb leveled the two-story building, the force of the explosion knocking down 4 of the center’s volunteers and trapping 3 others in the rubble.
An Israeli military spokesman said the airstrike in al-Habariyeh killed a “prominent terrorist belonging to Jamaa Islamiya. “Jamaa Islamiya is a Lebanese Islamist political organization that has an armed wing that has been fighting alongside Hezbollah against Israel since October 7.
A representative of Jamaa Islamiya said some paramedics belonged to the group, none of them were members of its armed wing.
The Guardian asked the Israel Defense Forces which of the paramedics they killed were militants and what measures the IDF had taken to minimize the impact of civilians in the attack, but did not receive a response.
Three rescuers, as well as witnesses to the rescue operation, said only seven bodies had been recovered from the rubble: those of volunteer doctors.
“We tested every inch for parts of the frame and their belongings. We didn’t see anything military-related. We knew [the victims] personally, so we had to identify their remains,” said Samer Hardan, head of the local Lebanese civil defense center that took part in the rescue operation.
The volunteers, mostly young college students, joined the ambulance corps after the war began, according to their parents, out of a sense of duty to their community.
“I told them it was detrimental to do this kind of work, but they said they accepted the risk. I don’t know what Israel thinks: they were young people who were enthusiastic about helping others,” said Kassem al-Shaar, whose doppelgänger his sons Ahmad and Hussein were killed in the airstrike.
Under the Leahy Act of 1997, the U. S. Department of Defense and State Departments are prohibited from providing services to foreign security forces when there are “credible reports” that they have committed serious human rights violations.
The Guardian reported in January that the State Department’s domestic policies had freed Israel from the law.
A spokesman for the U. S. National Security Council said it was aware of reports of the attack on al-Habariyeh and was in contact with its Israeli counterparts for more information.
“The United States is striving to ensure that U. S. -supplied defense parts are used in accordance with applicable domestic and foreign laws. If the effects reveal violations, we take action,” the spokesperson said.
According to Josh Paul, a non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now, a nonprofit organization for democracy and human rights, and a former State Department official involved in the arms movement process, arms movements containing ammunition such as JDAMs are subject to approved scrutiny. .
“The State Department approved several of those transfers within 48 hours. There are no political considerations about munitions destined for Israel, other than white phosphorus and cluster bombs,” Paul said.
Israel has relied heavily on U. S. transfers of big, stupid bombs, the 500- to 2,000-pound MK series and the accompanying JDAMs to fight Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to Paul, JDAMs are among the “key elements” that Israel has asked the U. S. for over the past six months.
Human rights teams have expressed considerations about Israel’s use of these senseless bombs and the possible complicity of the United States in any misuse of these weapons by equipping them with targeting equipment.
In December, Amnesty International called on the United States to halt arms transfers to Israel after discovering remnants of the JDAM in two attacks in Gaza that killed more than 43 people.
Since October 7, Israel has killed 16 medical workers in Lebanon, bringing the total to 10 in a single day at the end of March. Medical personnel are protected by foreign laws and attacking them is considered a war crime.
During the same period, another 380 people were killed in Lebanon, in addition to 72 civilians. On the Israeli side, 11 infantrymen and 8 civilians were killed.
“My sons wanted to do humanitarian cadres and see what happened to them. Israel would not dare to do what it has done without the support of the United States,” al-Shaar said.