Iran has refused to respond to questions about its use of banned cluster munitions against civilians during last month’s war with Israel.
Amnesty International investigators analyzing photos and video from recent missile strikes confirmed Iran deployed cluster munitions over Israeli cities in June, calling the attacks on Tel Aviv, Beersheba, and Rishon LeZion war crimes due to the indiscriminate threat posed to civilians.
“Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, warned on Thursday. “By using such weapons in or near populated residential areas, Iranian forces endangered civilian lives and demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law.”
Cluster munitions explode in mid-air and scatter small explosive devices over areas as large as football fields. Many submunitions fail to detonate immediately, leaving behind unexploded ordnance that can remain lethal for years. Children face particular danger from these weapons, which often resemble toys.
Israeli military officials first sounded the alarm over Iran’s use of cluster bombs on June 20 when a missile hit Beersheba with approximately 20 submunitions falling over an estimated eight-kilometer radius. Thankfully no injuries were reported in that attack.
More than 100 countries have joined the treaty banning these weapons. Neither Iran nor Israel has signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits their use, production, and transfer. However, international humanitarian law nonetheless forbids indiscriminate attacks using weapons that cannot be precisely directed at military targets.
Overall, Tehran launched over 550 ballistic missiles and more than 1,000 suicide drones at Israel during the 12-day war. Israeli and American air defenses intercepted roughly 90 percent of incoming projectiles, but dozens broke through to strike populated areas, wrecking more than 2,300 homes and damaging two universities and a hospital. Twenty-nine Israelis were killed and over 3,000 were wounded in the attacks.
A fragile ceasefire brokered by President Trump took effect June 24, hours after Iran fired two final ballistic missiles at Israel in violation of the truce.
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