Cluster Bomb / Submunition event in Israel on Wed 4th March 2026

The Israeli police announced today (Wednesday) that a cluster bomb was used by the terrorist organization Hezbollah in a barrage launched earlier toward the town of Metula. According to the police statement, this is the first time ever that a bomb of this type has been used by the Lebanese terrorist organization. 

A cluster bomb is designed to cover a large surface area relative to its size. The bomb is launched into the air and disperses into a number of smaller bombs that fall over a wide radius. Another serious problem with the bomb is the fallout left behind in the area after an attack, because sometimes not all the bombs explode in the air and become landmines.

In some cases, the weapons were designed to explode at a later stage, with both cases where the surviving bombs remain armed and could explode on contact, making them a serious threat to civilians and security personnel entering the area. 

Cluster bombs are subject to the general rules of international humanitarian law, but they were not enforced by any binding international legal instrument until the signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2008. More than 100 countries agreed to the text of the convention that was finalized in 2008 – which establishes a comprehensive ban on these weapons.