Former defence minister Jeanine Hennis repeatedly misinformed parliament about an air strike in Iraq that cost the lives of an estimated 70 civilians.

An investigative committee led by former justice minister Winnie Sorgdrager found that the Netherlands had been aware of the risks when F-16 fighter jets bombed an Islamic State car bomb factory in Hawija in 2015.

The raid caused a secondary explosion, triggered by munitions stored in the factory, that destroyed hundreds of buildings in the residential area and killed dozens of civilians, some of whom had fled from other parts of the country.

Hennis initially declined to confirm whether there had been civilian casualties, but when she finally gave the information to parliament it was inaccurate, the commission found.

“She gave incomplete and incorrect information to parliament about the type of F-16 missions, the process by which weapons were deployed and the number of civilian casualties,” the report said.

National broadcaster NOS and the NRC newspaper revealed in 2019 that civilians had died in the attack, despite the fact that military authorities were supposed to assess the situation beforehand to minimise the risk.

Eleven Iraqis, including the mayor of Hawija, have taken the Dutch state to court to try to hold to account for the civilian deaths and seek reparations. The government has denied liability, but it had to agree a €4 million compensation scheme for the region following a vote in parliament.

The Netherlands was part of a US-led international coalition against Islamic State, which controlled a region of around 12 million people spanning Iraq and Syria at the time of the bombing.

The Dutch gave the go-ahead to carry out the strike after a US investigation advised it that there were unlikely to be civilian casualties at night.

Hennis also misled MPs when she told them that the pilot could have aborted the mission if they were concerned about the risks. In fact the weapons were deployed remotely and the pilot had no say in the matter, the commission said.

Socialist party leader Jimmy Dijk has demanded an emergency debate in parliament on the commission’s findings. The defence ministry would not comment directly on the report, but said the bombing of Hawija was “an important and very serious subject”.