Mansouri attack
1996 Israeli attack
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The Mansouri attack occurred on 13 April 1996, when an Israel Defence Forces helicopter attacked an ambulance in Mansouri, a village in Southern Lebanon, killing two women and four children.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Mansouri, Southern Lebanon
13:40 (UTC+03:00)
| Mansouri attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of Operation Grapes of Wrath | |
Abbas Jiha, holding one of his killed daughters | |
| Location | 33°10′16″N 35°12′33″E Mansouri, Southern Lebanon |
| Date | 13 April 1996 13:40 (UTC+03:00) |
Attack type | Airstrike |
| Deaths | 6 |
| Injured | 4 |
| Perpetrators | Israel Defence Forces |
Attack
At 1:30 PM, Abbas Jiha, a farmer and volunteer ambulance driver,[8] was driving a Volvo vehicle, with the word "ambulance" written in red. He was taking wounded people as well as four of his children to Sidon. A United States-made Israeli Apache helicopter followed the car and fired two missiles at it.[8] The attack killed 6 civilians out of the 13 passengers who were escaping the village.[9] The children ages ranged from 7 months to 9 years.[10]
Aftermath
Although Israeli officials admitted that the vehicle was targeted, Major General Moshe Ya'alon claimed that it was "used by fighters to flee",[11] but an investigation by Amnesty International found no connection between anyone of them to Hezbollah.[12] Robert Fisk said that Israel broke the Geneva Conventions, which protect civilians even if they were around "armed antagonists".[13] B'Tselem called it a "blatant violation of the laws of war".[9]