Unlawful ballistic missile strikes utilising cluster munitions landed in residential areas in Israel

‘Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used’ - Erika Guevara Rosas

The Iranian forces’ use of cluster munitions during the ‘12 Day War’ with Israel was a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, Amnesty International said today.

Last month, the Iranian forces fired ballistic missiles whose warheads contained submunitions into populated residential areas of Israel, in attacks endangering civilians. Amnesty analysed photos and videos showing cluster munitions that, according to media reports, struck inside the Gush Dan metropolitan area around Tel Aviv on 19 June.

In addition, the cities of Beersheba, southern Israel (20 June), and Rishon LeZion, to the south of Tel Aviv (22 June), were also struck with ordnance that left multiple impact craters consistent with the submunitions seen in Gush Dan. Such submunitions hit a school and basketball court in Beersheba, but no deaths or injuries were reported.

Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said:

“Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used. By using such weapons in or near populated residential areas, Iranian forces endangered civilian lives and demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law.

“Civilians, particularly children, are most at risk of injury or death from unexploded submunitions. Iranian forces’ deliberate use of such inherently indiscriminate weapons is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons, and launching indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians constitutes a war crime.

Cluster munitions are conventional ordnance designed to disperse or release small explosive submunitions. Typically, such submunitions are launched and dispersed by rockets, artillery, or air-dropped containers, scattering ordnance over a wide area, sometimes as large as a football pitch, which often remain unexploded.

According to media reports, the warheads deployed by Iranian forces against Israel dispersed their payload several kilometres above the ground, spreading their submunitions over a very large area.

Many systems have high “dud” rates, leaving large areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance which can remain lethal for years or even decades after a conflict has ended.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which entered into force on 1 August 2010, bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. Amnesty has called on all states that have not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including Iran and Israel, to become a party to it and strictly comply with its terms.

Amnesty sent questions regarding the use of cluster munitions to the Iranian authorities on 15 July. At the time of publication, no response had yet been received.

Missiles fired at Israel

On 19 June, media reported that the Israeli military announced that Iranian forces had fired “a missile that contained cluster submunitions at a densely populated civilian area” in central Israel, and that approximately 20 submunitions fell over an estimated eight-kilometre radius.

Amnesty’s weapon experts were able to identify an unexploded submunition apparently found in the Gush Dan metropolitan area on 19 June. Amnesty could not independently establish where this submunition landed.

According to Haaretz, another cluster munition struck the top floor of a home in Azor shortly after 7am where a man and his son had been asleep. The father and son were woken up by sirens and managed to reach a safe room downstairs just before the submunition hit.

Amnesty’s weapons experts identified the submunitions (above) from images shared by the media, which cited Israeli military’s Home Front Command.

Furthermore, media reports of simultaneous impacts in Beersheba on 20 June seemingly indicate that cluster munitions were also used in that area. Among the several locations that were hit, Amnesty was able to verify that a submunition hit the basketball court of Gevim School in Beersheba. No deaths or injuries were reported. However, due to the high dud rate, there is the possibility that unexploded munitions not yet found could cause death or injury in the future.

Israeli media also reported a cluster munitions strike on Rishon LeZion on 22 June. Amnesty analysed photographs of a crater in a residential street, which was consistent with impact craters left by submunitions used in the attack on the Gush Dan area.

The ballistic missiles used by Iranian forces proved wildly inaccurate, and thus completely inappropriate for use near or in civilian residential areas. For example, an analysis of the October 2024 ballistic missiles strikes by Iranian forces against Israel showed that the missiles missed their intended target by an average of half-a-kilometre or more.

International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks, including through the use of weapons which cannot be directed at a specific military objective.

Fin-stabilised submunitions

While it has not been possible to determine precisely what kind of ballistic missile was used in these three attacks, the submunitions it dispersed bear a striking resemblance to a fin-stabilised submunition that appeared to have landed in the city of Gorgan, Golestan province, in Iran on 18 September 2023, following a failed missile test. Two citizens were reportedly injured.

A picture of the submunition was published by Mashregh News, a news organisation in Iran, amid widespread reports of multiple explosions being heard and ordnance landing in and around the city. The Iranian authorities did not acknowledge testing cluster munitions; instead, Iran’s Ministry of Defence announced on 18 September 2023 that: “During a research test of offensive and drone systems conducted in a desert area, one of the systems under testing experienced a technical malfunction, veered off its intended path, and disintegrated, with parts of it falling in areas of the city of Gorgan.”

The cluster munitions used by the Iranian forces also bear external resemblance to those showcased during defence exhibitions in Tehran in 2016.

Civilians killed

During the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran, at least 1,100 people were killed in Iran, including at least 132 women and 45 children, according to Iran’s Foundation for Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. Amnesty is calling for Israel’s attack on Evin prison in Tehran on 23 June that killed and injured scores of civilians, including a child, to be investigated as a war crime following an in-depth investigation.

At least 29 people, including women and children, were killed as a result of Iranian attacks in Israel, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. In one of the deadliest incidents, four members of the same family – three women and one child – were killed by an Iranian missile that hit the Palestinian town of Tamra in northern Israel on 14 June.