Construction equipment multinationals may be aiding Israeli war crimes, experts say

Bulldozers demolishing homes in southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP View image in fullscreen Bulldozers demolishing homes in southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP Construction equipment multinationals may be aiding Israeli war crimes, experts say Images show Israeli military using six companies’ bulldozers and excavators to demolish south Lebanon villages Human rights experts have alleged that six multinational construction equipment conglomerates may be aiding and abetting war crimes by supplying excavators and bulldozers to Israel, after photos and videos showed the Israeli military using their equipment to demolish villages in south Lebanon. The Guardian geolocated and verified images showing the Israeli military using excavators made by six companies – Caterpillar, Volvo, Hyundai, Doosan, Hitachi and Komatsu – to destroy homes, public utilities, shops and other structures across southern Lebanon. Israel has levelled entire villages inside the “yellow line”, a 608 sq km area occupied by Israel along the Lebanese-Israeli border. At least 46 villages in south Lebanon have suffered heavy damage, most of it caused by demolitions carried out after the 17 April Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, according to a satellite analysis by Bellingcat. The Israeli military said it was destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, with Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, calling for “all homes in Lebanese villages near the border” to be destroyed to “remove threats”. However, Human Rights Watch has said that Israel’s wide-scale destruction of villages could amount to wanton destruction – a war crime. Displaced residents have watched from afar as videos show craters and vast fields of rubble where their family homes once stood. Video showed the Israeli military using foreign-produced excavators to destroy homes Much of that destruction is being carried out by excavators and bulldozers produced and sold to Israel by foreign companies. Two pictures taken by the Associated Press on 12 and 15 April in the Lebanese border town of Mays al-Jabal show excavators from all six companies among flattened houses, as well as Hyundai, Caterpillar and Komatsu excavators actively destroying homes. Videos from the Lebanese border towns of Naqoura and Debel in April also showed the Israeli military using foreign-produced excavators to destroy homes and other infrastructure. Surveillance footage captured the Israeli military using a Volvo excavator to destroy solar panels and water infrastructure in Debel, a key source of electricity and water for the residents of the besieged town. The Israeli military, commenting on the incident in Debel, said the actions seen in the video were “not in line with the IDF’s values”, and that the incident was under investigation. Human rights experts said that supplying the construction equipment that enables the Israeli military to destroy homes and villages in south Lebanon could