Is Israel Using Cluster Munitions in Gaza?

Various Cluster Munitions. Photo taken by DanChurchAid/Jawad Metni Israel has used cluster munitions in its ongoing campaign in Gaza said John Holmes, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today, a claim also reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the Turkish Today’s Zamen.

Given the high population density of the Gaza strip, sources say there is a dangerous risk of high numbers of civilian casualties, since cluster munitions scatter over a wide area and leave behind deadly unexploded ‘duds’ that act as de facto landmines.

Israel’s extensive use of cluster munitions during its Lebanon invasion in 2006 was widely condemned for the resultant civilian casualties and galvanized the nascent campaign to ban cluster bombs. Click here to read a Landmine Action report on the impact of cluster munitions in Lebanon. For a similar report from Human Rights Watch, click here. For a particularly good short documentary film on the impact of Israel’s use of cluster bombs in Lebanon, click here.

Israel was not among the some 100 countries that signed the Cluster Munitions Treaty in December, that outlawed the transfer, production and stockpiling of such weapons and called on states to help mitigate the impact of ongoing contamination.

For more information on cluster munitions, see the previous posts on Political Minefields, or click here to view a short informational web video.

UPDATE 7 January 2009: Sources with a presence in Gaza are currently telling me that the claim that Israel is using cluster munitions may be incorrect, and may be a misinterpretation of pictures showing air burst weapons used to create smoke clouds to reduce visability. If any readers have any more information on this issue, please post a comment. Thanks - PM.

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