Rights Center: Shelling of a Civilian Home in Hajjah During Iftar Is a War Crime and a Blatant Violation of International Law
Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The American Center for Justice (ACJ) condemned the missile attack carried out by the Houthi group on Sunday evening on the Haradh District in Hajjah Governorate, northern Yemen.
The shelling targeted a civilian house while residents were gathered to eat the iftar meal, resulting in dozens of casualties, including both dead and wounded.
In a statement, the center said it condemns the attack that targeted the home of citizen Adel Al-Junaid at a time when a number of civilians had gathered for iftar, which led to a large number of civilian casualties.
According to the preliminary information and reports cited in the statement, the death toll exceeded 15 people, while more than 20 others were injured, bringing the total number of casualties to more than 30 civilians, including the dead and wounded.
The statement indicated that the information available so far confirms the killing of at least eight civilians, including two children: Mawaddah Akram Al-Shawwesh (3 years old) and Abdulrahman Musab Al-Tayyib (5 years old), in addition to six adults. Several other civilians were also injured, including the child Asmaa Musab Al-Tayyib (3 years old) and the child Tariq Adel Junaid, who is not yet two years old.
The center considered directing artillery fire at a civilian house, at a time when families gather for iftar during the month of Ramadan, to be a serious violation of the principles and rulings of Islamic Sharia, as well as a breach of the rules of international humanitarian law that prohibit targeting civilians and civilian objects.
The statement added that these attacks reflect a “systematic disregard for civilian lives,” noting that continued shelling of populated areas increases the humanitarian cost of the conflict in Yemen and undermines any legal or moral commitments to protecting civilians.
The American Center for Justice called on the international community and UN human rights mechanisms to intervene to document these violations and take serious action to ensure accountability for those responsible, stressing that protecting civilians requires practical measures to stop these attacks and end the state of impunity.
