Israel

Casualties

Last updated: 27 October 2017

Casualties Overview

All known casualties by end 2016

16 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties

Casualties in 2016

1 (2015: 1)

2016 casualties by survival outcome

1 injured (2015: 1 injured)

 

One antivehicle mine casualty was recorded in the State of Israel for 2016. A farmer sustained minor injuries in the Jordan Valley when his tractor hit an antivehicle mine.[1] In addition, several other explosive s incidents were recorded in 2016 that did not have confirmed mine casualties and therefore were not included in the annual casualty total. In January 2016, a landmine exploded due to a fire, however no casualties were reported.[2] Media reports indicated that a roadside bomb detonated in Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms. Because the incident was not clearly victim-activated, as well as contradictory reporting regarding casualties, casualties from this event have not been included in the Monitor’s global mine/ERW casualty total.[3] A similar ambiguously reported incident occurred in September.[4]

One new casualty was reported in Israel in 2015, when a female soldier was injured by a landmine in the occupied Golan Heights.[5]

No new mine/ERW casualties were identified in Israel in 2014. One explosive incident in the Golan Heights was reported in the media as injuring four Israeli soldiers;[6] however, the Monitor was not able to confirm the cause of the explosion.

In 2013, the Monitor identified three mine/ERW casualties. One soldier was killed in an accident during a demining training course in the Golan Heights[7] and one civilian was injured when he stepped on a mine in an abandoned building in the Jordan Valley.[8] In March of the same year, a teenager was badly injured while tampering with an unexploded ordnance at a home in Safed.[9]

From 1999 to the end of 2016, the Monitor recorded 16 mine/ERW casualties in Israel.[10]

Cluster munition casualties

Cluster munition strikes in 2006 caused 13 casualties in Israel.[11] No further casualties from cluster munition remnants have been identified.



[1] Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), “GICHD-SIPRI antivehicle mine database,” provided by email from Ursign Hofmann, Policy Advisor, GICHD, 24 August 2017.

[2]Landmine explosion in northern Israel, no injuries reported,” The Jerusalem Post, 10 September 2016.

[3]Hezbollah Bombing Targets Israeli Military Convoy,” Voice of America, 4 January 2016; and Charles Maccarty, “UN chief condemns roadside bomb attack on Israeli army,” VideoNews, 5 January 2016.

[4]Quand Israël ‘singe’ le Hezbollah” (“When Israel mimics the Hezbollah”), ParsToday, 29 September 2016.

[5] Yaakov Lappin, “IDF officer loses foot in landmine explosion in Golan Heights,” The Jerusalem Post, 4 February 2015.

[6] Yaakov Lappin, “Explosive device detonated near IDF patrol on Syria border; 4 soldiers wounded,” The Jerusalem Post, 18 March 2014; and Yasser Okbi, “Syria denies attacking IDF soldiers on border; says old landmine caused explosion,” The Jerusalem Post, 20 March 2014.

[8]Hiker loses foot after stepping on mine in Jordan Valley,” Times of Israel, 30 October 2013.

[9] Aaron Kalman, “Teen badly injured as old munition explodes,” Times of Israel, 14 March 2013.

[10] See previous Monitor country profiles for Israel on the Monitor website.

[11] Handicap International, Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels, May 2007), p. 115.