The Mansouri attack occurred on 13 April 1996, when an
Israel Defence Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
helicopter attacked a vehicle in
Mansouri, a village in
Southern Lebanon
Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...
, killing two women and four children.
Attack
At 1:30 PM, Abbas Jiha, a farmer and volunteer ambulance driver,
was driving a
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
vehicle, with the word "ambulance" written in red. He was taking wounded people as well as four of his children to Sidon. A US-made Israeli
Apache helicopter chased the car and fired two missiles at it.
It killed 6 civilians out of the 13 passengers who were escaping the village.
[https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/israeli_violations_of_human_rights_of_lebanese_civilians.pdf Page 76] The children ages ranged from 7 months to 9 years.
Victims
* Mona Shuweikh, 27 years
* Nukha Al Oglah, 35 years
*Huda Al Oglah, 11 years
* Zeinab Jeha, 7 years
* Hanin Jeha, 3 years
* Mariam Jeha, 1 month
Aftermath
Although Israeli officials admitted that the vehicle was targeted, Major General
Moshe Ya'alon
Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon ( he, משה יעלון; born Moshe Smilansky on 24 June 1950) is an Israeli politician and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, who also served as Israel's Defense Minister under Benjamin Netanyahu from 20 ...
claimed that it was "used by fighters to flee", but an investigation by
Amnesty International found no connection between anyone of them to Hezbollah.
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stan ...
said that Israel broke the
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conv ...
, which protect civilians even if they were around "armed antagonists".
B'Tselem
B'Tselem ( he, בצלם, , " in the image of od) is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of su ...
called it a "blatant violation of the laws of war".
See also
*
Qana massacre
The Qana massacre took place on April 18, 1996, near Qana, a village in Southern Lebanon, when the Israel Defense Forces fired artillery shells at a United Nations compound. The artillery barrage had been launched to cover an Israeli special ...
*
Nabatieh Fawka attack
The Nabatieh Fawka attack occurred on 16 April 1996, when Israeli warplanes bombed an apartment in the village of Nabatieh Fawka, killing nine people, seven of whom were children.
Context
On September 19, 1994, the village came under attack and ...
*
Operation Grapes of Wrath
Operation Grapes of Wrath ( he, מבצע ענבי זעם ''Mivtsa Enavi Zaam''), known in Lebanon as the April Aggression (), is the seventeen-day campaign of the Israeli Defense Forces against Hezbollah in 1996 which attempted to end rocket att ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Footage
1996 in Lebanon
April 1996 events in Asia
Operation Grapes of Wrath
Massacres in Lebanon
South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)
Tyre District
Massacres committed by Israel