Tag: middleeast

US-made munitions were used in a deadly Israeli strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, a CNN analysis of video from the scene and a review by explosive weapons experts found. 

CNN geolocated videos showing tents in flames in the aftermath of the strike on the camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) known as “Kuwait Peace Camp 1.”

In video shared on social media, which CNN geolocated to the same scene by matching details including the camp’s entrance sign and the tiles on the ground, the tail of a US-made GBU-39 small-diameter bomb (SDB) is visible, according to four explosive weapons experts who reviewed the video for CNN.

The GBU-39, manufactured by Boeing, is a high-precision munition “designed to attack strategically important point targets,” and result in low collateral damage, explosive weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith told CNN.

But “using any munition, even of this size, will always incur risks in a densely populated area,” said Cobb-Smith, a former British Army artillery officer.   

Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member who also identified the fragment as being from a GBU-39, explained to CNN how he drew his conclusion.  

CNN’s identification of the munition is consistent with a claim made by Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a briefing about the tragedy on Tuesday. Hagari said the strike – which he said targeted senior Hamas commanders – used two munitions with small warheads containing 17 kilos of explosives, adding these bombs were “the smallest munitions that our jets could use.”

The traditional GBU-39 warhead has an explosive payload of 17 kilos.  

Additionally, serial numbers on the remnants match those for a manufacturer of GBU-39 parts based in California – more evidence the bombs were made in the US.  

The Pentagon declined to comment and referred CNN to comments from Israel on its operation. CNN has also reached out to the US National Security Council.

Some context: The US has long been the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, and that support has continued despite the growing political pressure on the Biden administration over the Gaza offensive.

Last month, Biden signed a foreign aid bill that included $26 billion for the Israel-Hamas conflict — including $15 billion in Israeli military aid, $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and $2.4 billion for regional US military operations.

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US President Joe Biden told CNN earlier this month that he’d halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel – which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – if it invades Rafah.

In giving Netanyahu this ultimatum in May, Biden set a red line on Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Deadly strike: Israel’s strike on a displacement camp in Rafah on Sunday killed at least 45 people and wounded 200 others. It is among the deadliest strikes by the Israeli military on Gaza’s southernmost city since Israel began its operation there on May 7. 

What the US is saying: Biden is yet to comment publicly on Sunday’s strike. A US National Security Council spokesperson said the strike was “heartbreaking,” and that the US was “actively engaging” with Israel to determine what happened. But the spokesperson also said that “Israel has a right to go after Hamas.”

The US has supported Israel’s efforts to go after Hamas while warning against an invasion of Rafah, which would lead to widespread civilian casualties. In recent weeks, Biden’s top national security aide Jake Sullivan engaged Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, emphasizing the US position. Sullivan said he had detected “refinements” to Israel’s Rafah plan, which he said was now more “targeted and limited” in scale.

Israel digs in: Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would expand its ground operation in Rafah. After meeting Sullivan, he said: “I emphasized to him Israel’s duty to expand the ground operation in Rafah, to dismantle Hamas and return the abductees.”

Global outcry: The strike on the Rafah camp, which killed and wounded many women and children, has sparked a mounting global outcry. The UN is holding an emergency session on the strike on Tuesday — adding to the unprecedented pressure on Israel over its Gaza offensive, and on its staunch ally the United States.

Mounting pressure: It also came just days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “immediately halt” its military operation in Rafah, and any action in the city “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”