This report employs a combination of forensic and open-source analysis to trace the weapons, manufacturers and supply chains involved in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza (October 2023 – September 2025), arguing that civilian harm in the strip was the foreseeable consequence of deploying explosive weapons at scale in densely populated urban areas.

A new UN report warns that civilians continue to bear the overwhelming burden of modern warfare, with explosive weapons in populated areas remaining a leading cause of death, injury and destruction, drawing on AOAV data to illustrate the scale of the crisis.

The International Network on Explosive Weapons warns that escalating hostilities involving Iran, Israel and the United States are causing widespread civilian harm across the Middle East, urging parties to stop using heavy explosive weapons in populated areas and to uphold international humanitarian law.

AOAV’s new analysis showing a 26 per cent rise in Ukrainian civilian casualties in 2025 has been covered by more than 90 media outlets across over 30 countries after first being reported by The Guardian.

In March 2003, during the opening days of Britain’s invasion of Iraq, a British tank shell struck a family home in Basra, leaving civilian Hassan Jouma Raheem catastrophically injured, uninvestigated and uncompensated more than two decades later.

In April 2008, during the final phase of Britain’s military presence in Basra, a British air strike destroyed a family home in the Mouhandseen district, killing four members of the Ghlame family and leaving survivors without formal investigation, acknowledgement or compensation.

A 2008 British helicopter strike in Basra reportedly killed mechanic Nasser Quasem Drbash, his wife and two young children.

This report examines the reported deaths of Ali Touma Abdullah and his two-year-old daughter Athraa in Basra on 27 March 2003 during British military operations.

At the United Nations in New York, governments renewed calls for stronger civilian protection from explosive weapons in populated areas, urging that the 2022 Political Declaration move from words to action through concrete military restraint, accountability, and collaboration ahead of the 2025 San José conference.

AOAV’s Explosive Violence Monitor 2024 reveals a significant 67% increase in global civilian casualties from explosive violence compared to 2023, with a total of 61,353 killed and injured. Overall casualties rose by 39%, predominantly driven by airstrikes, which caused 63% of civilian casualties and doubled in lethality from the previous year. 

A a UN report reveals that nearly 70% of casualties in the Gaza conflict are women and children, AOAV highlights the severe and predictable impact of explosive weapons in urban areas leading to this harm.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, civilian casualties have surged, with a 28% increase over the past six months alone, leaving over 27,000 civilians dead or injured, many in heavily populated areas.