Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeida port last month appeared to be an indiscriminate or disproportionate attack on civilians which may amount to a “war crime”, Reuters reports according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Israel said on July 20 its warplanes struck Houthi military targets near Hodeida. The attack targeted oil facilities and a power station and HRW said it killed at least six people and wounded at least 80.

The Israeli airstrikes on Hodeida hit more than two dozen oil storage tanks and two shipping cranes in the port, as well as a power plant in the province’s Salif district, HRW said.

“The attacks appeared to cause disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian objects. Serious violations of the laws of war committed willfully, that is deliberately or recklessly, are war crimes.”

Analysed satellite imagery found that the oil tanks burned for at least three days, posing environmental concerns, according to the HRW report.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli foreign ministry.

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