Dutch Government apologizes to civilians in Hawija, Iraq after airstrike in 2015

Ruben Brekelmans, the Minister of Defense, has offered a personal apology in Hawija for the June 2015 airstrike on the Iraqi city, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. The strike, which targeted an Islamic State bomb-making facility, killed dozens of people.

“On behalf of the Dutch government, I personally apologized in Hawija for the civilian casualties that occurred during the 2015 airstrike in the war against ISIS. Visiting the site of so much suffering today has left a profound impression on me, both as a minister and as a person. I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the families who lost loved ones,” the minister stated.

In March 2025, Defense located video recordings from the morning after the Hawija strike, almost a decade after the operation. The footage reveals severe damage to both the industrial area and nearby residential neighborhoods. Minister Brekelmans described the late discovery of the videos as “highly regrettable” and commissioned an independent investigation into the circumstances.

Brekelmans announced in May last year that he would travel to Hawija to offer an apology, following the publication of the Sorgdrager Commission report. The commission examined the Dutch F-16 strike and found that the Netherlands had knowingly taken risks during the attack. The Ministry of Defense maintains that the strike was legally justified.

The airstrike targeted a workshop used by the terrorist group, which contained far more explosives than anticipated. The resulting blasts devastated much of the surrounding neighborhood. Recent independent investigations, including by the peace group PAX, show that at least 85 civilians died in the Hawija strike, higher than earlier estimates, and that the Dutch government supplied incomplete information about the attack for many years.

A thorough debate took place in the Dutch parliament in May 2025 regarding the country’s military operations in Hawija. MPs examined shortcomings in the information given to them and the lessons to be learned for future missions, criticizing the delayed and limited updates provided to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament.

The Ministry of Defense has allocated 14 million euros to compensate the city. Victims of the attack have filed a lawsuit against the Dutch state, arguing that the strike was unlawful.

In January 2024, the District Court in The Hague decided that the government must submit more specific records about what information was available before and during the strike, highlighting the legally complex and incomplete reporting by the Ministry of Defense.

Following the incident and the commission’s conclusions, the Dutch Ministry of Defense established a reporting center for civilian casualties, allowing citizens and NGOs to flag suspected unintended damage from military operations. The center, partly motivated by the Hawija case, is intended to enhance transparency going forward.