Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 13, 2026

Mansouri attack

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.

Last revised
Jun 13, 2026
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Mansouri attack
Part of Operation Grapes of Wrath
Abbas Jiha, holding one of his killed daughters
Location33°10′42″N 35°12′20″E / 33.1784°N 35.2055°E / 33.1784; 35.2055
Mansouri, Southern Lebanon
Date13 April 1996
13:40 (UTC+03:00)
Attack type
Airstrike
Deaths6
Injured4
PerpetratorsIsrael Defence Forces

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.1234567

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 any of the victims 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

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "ISRAEL/LEBANON". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  2. Israel/Lebanon: Unlawful Killings during Operation Grapes of Wrath (PDF), Amnesty International, July 1996
  3. "Petition Charges Israel with War Crimes". MERIP. 8 December 1999. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  4. "Lebanon flies the flags of mourning". The Independent. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  5. "Documents and Source Material". Journal of Palestine Studies. 26 (1): 138–163. 1 October 1996. doi:10.2307/2538046. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2538046.
  6. lebanons02 (22 October 2014). "An Israeli helicopter fired at an ambulance killing two women and four girls in al-Mansouri". Civil Society Knowledge Centre. Retrieved 17 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. Friel, Howard (21 September 2013). Chomsky and Dershowitz: On Endless War and the End of Civil Liberties. Interlink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62371-035-4.
  8. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF CRUSADE?". The Independent. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  9. https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/israeli_violations_of_human_rights_of_lebanese_civilians.pdf Page 76
  10. "LEBANESE BURY DEAD". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  11. "Robert Fisk. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  12. Bamford, James (10 May 2005). A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-27504-2.
  13. The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. 2007.
External links