Israel Must Provide Safe Passage to Relief Convoys

In one incident on Monday, Israeli missiles struck a convoy of trucks from the United Arab Emirates near the town of Zahleh as it approached Beirut from Syria, damaging or destroying three of the trucks, as well as four passenger vehicles. Washington Post and Agence France-Press reporters at the scene wrote that the trucks contained supplies of medicines, vegetable oil, sugar and rice. The Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE RC) said in a statement that the convoy contained medical supplies and medicines, as well as several ambulances. The statement said that at least one person was killed. UAE officials have said that the convoy was clearly marked as a relief operation.

A Human Rights Watch researcher who saw the aftermath of the attack on Tuesday observed at the scene that the lead vehicle was completely burned out, and that a projectile had penetrated the cab of a second truck. A third truck was carrying what appeared to be large bags of flour or rice.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that it had been approached by the UAE RC about the matter.

"Israel is legally obliged to permit free passage of materials essential for civilians and to protect humanitarian personnel delivering those supplies," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "If attacks are hitting relief and medical convoys, the implications for civilian protection are serious. Such attacks would indicate that Israel is failing to take appropriate precautions to avoid targeting civilian objects."

In a July 19 statement on its website, an IDF spokesperson said that the IDF had carried out aerial attacks on "Trucks carrying weaponry, including four trucks in the Beka valley area carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon." When told that the trucks appeared to be carrying food, an IDF spokesperson, according to the Washington Post, responded, "We attack only terror targets that relate to Hezbollah and their terror infrastructure."

The duty to respect and protect humanitarian relief personnel and objects used for humanitarian relief is a well-established norm of customary international law - a rule about which the International Committee of the Red Cross reminded the parties to the conflict on Wednesday. International law also obliges parties to an armed conflict to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects, and to refrain from attacks that would disproportionately harm the civilian population or fail to discriminate between combatants and civilians.

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