Amnesty International has raised serious allegations against the United States, suggesting that a military action carried out in Yemen might constitute a war crime. This accusation stems from an incident in April 2025, during which a U.S. airstrike targeted a migrant detention center in Sa’ada, a region in north-western Yemen.

The human rights organization conducted its own inquiry into the attack and concluded that the strike, which resulted in numerous casualties among African migrants, was indiscriminate in nature. Amnesty International has called for a thorough and transparent investigation by U.S. authorities to determine if this action indeed qualifies as a war crime.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Amnesty International emphasized the importance of accountability and urged the U.S. to examine the circumstances surrounding the strike.

Earlier in the year, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had announced a rigorous campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthi militants, aimed at curbing their aggressive actions in the Red Sea. In a March interview with Fox News, Hegseth stressed the campaign’s focus on ensuring freedom of navigation and reinstating deterrence against the Houthis. He mentioned that the military efforts would cease once the Houthis agreed to halt their attacks on ships and drones.

“This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence. The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News at the time.

“But until then, it will be unrelenting.”

President Trump ordered strikes against Houthi targets late last winter, pledging to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the militants ended their attacks on civilian and military ships in the important maritime corridor.

Amnesty International said Wednesday that the Yemen strike “inflicted catastrophic civilian harm on vulnerable migrants” most kept in the detention center by the Houthis only due to “irregular immigration status.”

“The harrowing testimonies from survivors paint a clear picture of a civilian building, packed with detainees, being bombed without distinction. This was a lethal failure by the US to comply with one of its core obligations under international humanitarian law: to do everything feasible to verify whether the object attacked was a military objective,” Kristine Beckerle, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International, said in the report.

Late last year, Amnesty International also alleged that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza during its war against Hamas in the region.

The Hill has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.