Israel’s Use of Exploding Pagers May Violate International Law

October 2024
By Carol Giacomo

Israel’s use of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies during its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon appears to violate international law, an expert said.

“Based on the currently available information…there is a strong basis to conclude Israel violated Article 7(2) of Amended Protocol II” of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Brian Finucane, senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, wrote for JustSecurity.org on Sept. 25.

The relevant article states that “it is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material.” Booby traps are defined as any device “which is designed, constructed, or adapted to kill or injure, and which functions unexpectedly when a person disturbs or approaches an apparently harmless object or performs an apparently safe act.”

The pagers, which detonated on Sept. 17, killed more than a dozen people and injured more than 2,700. The walkie-talkies, which exploded a day later, killed 20 people and wounded hundreds more, according to news reports.

The New York Times reported on Sept. 18 that Israel established a shell company in Hungary under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. The devices supplied to Hezbollah were produced by the shell company and contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the explosions.

Israel and the United States both agreed to be bound by Amended Protocol II. In his essay, Finucane urged the United States to scrutinize the case and determine if Israel also violated U.S. law.