HRW adds in a media statement: "Several of the attacks took place in or near areas with concentrations of civilians, indicating that the rocket attacks themselves may have been unlawfully indiscriminate in violation of the laws of war."
"The loss of civilian life in Hajja shows why most countries have committed never to use cluster munitions," said Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher with HRW. "These weapons not only kill or injure people at the time of the attack, but the unexploded submunitions go on killing long afterward."
Neither the U.S., Saudi Arabia, or Yemen have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans their use.
HRW has previously warned that the coalition has used cluster munitions, and an anonymous Pentagon official told U.S. News this month that "the U.S. is aware that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions in Yemen."
Inter Press Service reported last week:
The United States is providing a thinly-veiled cover virtually legitimizing the use of cluster bombs - banned by an international convention - by Saudi Arabia and its allies in their heavy fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Asked if cluster bombs are legitimate weapons of war, "if used appropriately", U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters: "If used appropriately, there are end-use regulations regarding the use of them. But yes, when used appropriately and according (to) those end-use rules, it's permissible."
Over 4,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Yemen since March. Though international aid groups continue to warn of the dire humanitarian situation gripping the impoverished country, it remains a largely ignored crisis.
Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said this month, "The humanitarian situation is nothing short of catastrophic. Every family in Yemen has been affected by this conflict. The people are facing immense hardship. And it is getting worse by the day.
"The world needs to wake up to what is going on," said Maurer.
See more on HRW's new findings in the group's video below:
