Norway's largest pension fund cuts ties with Caterpillar over alleged involvement in Gaza destruction

Norway's largest pension fund has sold its $69m stake in the bulldozer company Caterpillar over the alleged use of their vehicles in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as well as destruction in Gaza.

Pension fund KLP took the decision earlier this month after Caterpillar was not able to provide assurances that they were taking action to reduce the risk of their equipment from being used by the Israeli military against Palestinians in a manner that violates international laws.

The KLP pension fund manages retirement assets for over half a million Norwegian public sector workers.

The fund stands at around $90bn and has previously excluded companies from its funds over human rights violations, corruption and environmental damage.

Kiran Aziz, the head of responsible investments at KLP, said Caterpillar has long been supplying equipment that is used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure, paving the way for Israeli settlements to be built.

"It has also been alleged that the company's equipment is being used by the Israel Defence Forces in connection with its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on 7 October last year," Aziz said in a statement cited in the Guardian.

"Since the company cannot provide us with assurances that it is doing anything in this regard, we have decided to exclude the company from investment," Aziz added.

Caterpillar has long faced allegations of being used in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Israeli army is reported to have retrofitted bulldozers with armoured driver cabins and weapons, using the converted equipment to demolish Palestinian homes.

Rights groups, journalists, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have previously highlighted the use of Caterpillar bulldozers being used in Palestinian territories.

This includes the use of Caterpillar's equipment in Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed 37,800 Palestinians since October and wounded at least 86,500 others in the same time frame.

The war on Gaza has levelled entire neighbourhoods and wreaked havoc on the besieged enclave's  infrastructure, plunging it into a deep humanitarian crisis.

Journalists and rights groups reported that Israeli forces used Caterpillar bulldozers to bury wounded Palestinians alive outside Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital after a nine-day siege.

The company has been designated as potentially "complicit" in the war on Gaza by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This is not the first time KLP has taken action over Israeli action in Palestinian territories. In 2021, they excluded the international telecom company Motorola over their links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.