At least 6 civilians killed and 52 injured, including two children
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Mwatana for Human Rights reported that Israeli airstrikes carried out on the evening of Sunday, 24 August 2025, targeted a fuel and gas station on Al-Sittin Street, Haziz power station, and a power transmission facility in Asr Al-Sufla, in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. The attacks resulted in the killing of no fewer than six civilians and the injury of 52 others, including two children, in addition to causing widespread destruction to public and private property in the targeted areas.
Mwatana stressed that these Israeli attacks constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Mwatana further stated that the strikes on vital civilian service facilities—on which residents of Sana’a depend for electricity and fuel—represent a grave breach of the protections afforded under international humanitarian law to civilian objects and essential infrastructure. Such attacks violate the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which prohibit deliberate assaults on civilian objects and oblige parties to conflict to uphold the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution to safeguard civilians. Chief among these is the principle of distinction, set out in Article 48 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which requires parties to armed conflict to distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants, and between civilian objects and military objectives.
In July 2025, to mark one year since the beginning of the Israeli attacks in Yemen, Mwatana for Human Rights released a statement documenting Israeli airstrikes across Yemen. That statement highlighted repeated targeting of vital civilian infrastructure and industrial and service facilities, underscoring their blatant breach of international humanitarian law and international treaties that prohibit assaults on civilian objects and infrastructure.
Mwatana called on the international community and the UN Security Council to take urgent and effective steps to pressure Israel to cease these violations and to open an independent and transparent international investigation that ensures accountability for those responsible. Mwatana also urged states supporting Israel—particularly the United States of America—to exercise their influence to stop the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Yemen.
