Dutch Ministry of Defense Accused of Ignoring Victims of 2015 Hawija Airstrike
The Dutch Ministry of Defense is facing intense criticism for failing to properly track and compensate civilian victims and their families following a devastating 2015 airstrike in Hawija, Iraq. Despite official apologies and promises of aid, reports indicate that the ministry is ignoring existing evidence and dossiers that could identify those eligible for individual financial restitution.
The incident occurred on June 3, 2015, when Dutch F-16s targeted an ISIS bomb factory on an industrial site. While the strike hit its intended target, the presence of large quantities of TNT triggered a massive secondary explosion. The resulting blast leveled a neighboring residential area, killing between 70 and 85 civilians and leaving approximately 100 others wounded.
A 2025 commission investigating the tragedy concluded that the Ministry of Defense relied too heavily on U.S. Intelligence and failed to adequately assess the risks of a secondary explosion if the factory’s explosives were detonated. This failure to account for the surrounding residential area contributed to the high civilian death toll.
In January 2026, then-caretaker Minister of Defense Brekelmans traveled to Iraq to personally apologize to survivors and bereaved families. During this visit, he announced an additional 10 million euros earmarked for the reconstruction of Hawija. However, the minister maintained that individual financial compensation was not possible as there was insufficient information to determine who suffered specific damages and no local authority existed to provide the necessary data.
New investigations by journalists from Investico, BOOS and De Groene Amsterdammer challenge the ministry’s claims. The research reveals that a compensation office actually exists in the provincial capital where Hawija is located, contradicting the ministry’s assertion that no such local authority is available to facilitate identify victims.
The lack of individual compensation has left many residents in ruins. Saadoun Al-Jubouri, the mayor of Hawija, described the site as an “open wound,” noting that while some businesses, like a flour mill, were rebuilt by their owners without Dutch assistance, others, such as an ice factory, remain destroyed because the owners cannot afford the repairs. The scale of the devastation was immense, with Al-Jubouri recalling a crater 40 meters deep and hundreds of vehicles and machines buried under debris.
This ongoing dispute underscores the tension between diplomatic gestures and tangible accountability. While the Dutch government has offered formal apologies and general reconstruction funds, the refusal to process individual dossiers leaves many families without the direct support needed to recover from the 2015 attack.
