'Israel' used US-made precision-guided bomb in Gaza school strike: CNN

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: CNN
11 Aug 2024 21:12
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CNN cites weapons experts as saying that at least one US-manufactured precision-guided bomb was used in the Israeli massacre in the Al-Tabieen school in Gaza City.

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People and rescuers remove the body of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza City on August 10, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli officials have informed their counterparts in the US that they used smaller munitions, rather than larger bombs, during the recent airstrike on the Al-Tabieen school in Gaza City to allegedly minimize civilian casualties, CNN reported, citing an American official familiar with the matter.

The Gaza Government Media Office confirmed that more than 100 displaced Palestinians were killed in the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the school on Saturday dawn.

An Israeli military official previously told CNN that the Israeli military used "three small and precise munitions that cannot cause the damage the Palestinians claim they have caused."

The Israeli occupation military claimed that it killed at least 19 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters who were operating from a command and control center located in the school.

It also claimed that the strike "was carried out using three precise munitions," adding that "no severe damage was caused to the compound."

However, CNN reported that at least one US-manufactured precision-guided bomb was used in the deadly strike, as indicated by weapons experts.

Footage captured by CNN revealed parts of an explosive device identified by Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, as remnants of a GBU-39 small-diameter bomb.

The network also cited weapons expert Chris Cobb Smith as saying that the GBU-39, produced by Boeing, is a high-precision munition "designed to attack strategically important point targets" while minimizing collateral damage.

However, it highlighted that videos it obtained from the site of the strike—claimed by the Israeli occupation forces to have targeted Hamas infrastructure—show "extensive destruction and dead bodies" scattered in a schoolyard.

CNN mentioned that the footage depicts medics and rescuers transporting injured children to ambulances.

Palestinian officials have informed the media network that no warning was given to civilians prior to the Israeli airstrikes.

Hamas refutes Israeli claims of operating from hit Gaza school

Izzat al-Rishq, member of the Hamas Political Bureau, also asserted on Saturday that all Resistance factions strictly adhere to a policy of avoiding civilian areas to prevent them from becoming targets of Israeli aggression.

The Hamas official dismissed the Israeli claims that measures were taken to minimize civilian casualties through the use of smart weapons, pointing out that all martyrs and dozens of injured were civilians, with not a single fighter present among them.

"If these are smart US weapons and kill all this number of civilians, this shows the extent of the stupidity of this army and its leaders, and that its weapons are (dumb) weapons, not smart," al-Rishq indicated.

Later, Hamas affirmed in a statement that the Israeli occupation's narrative regarding the Al-Tabieen school massacre is misleading and false.

The movement indicated that the occupation's announcement of a list that includes 19 martyrs, claiming they were Resistance fighters, among more than 100 civilians killed in cold blood, is nothing more than an attempt to "justify its heinous crime" in light of widespread international criticism.

It asserted that the occupation forces' claims were false and baseless, stating that none of those martyred in the massacre were armed; all were civilians targeted while performing the dawn prayer.

Hamas pointed out that the aforementioned list includes children, civilian employees, university professors, and religious figures, most of whom have no connection to any political or military activity.

US-made bombs used in Israeli massacres against Palestinians

This is not the first time that media reports have highlighted the use of US-made bombs in massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip.

In July, the Israeli news website Maariv reported that the bombs used by Israeli forces in the al-Mawasi massacre, which killed at least 90 Palestinians and injured 300, were US-manufactured JDAM bombs.

Known for their precision and advanced targeting capabilities, JDAMs are kits that are attached to Mark 80 series bombs, which turn the dumb bomb into a precision munition.

At the time, the Israeli Army Radio mentioned that the Israeli Air Force dropped a total of 8 JDAM-guided bombs during the massacre.

Earlier in June, a CNN investigation and a study by an explosive weapons expert revealed that US-made explosives were used in a deadly Israeli attack on an UNRWA school in central Gaza, which killed at least 40 Palestinians.

In late May, another CNN report revealed that the origin of the GBU-39 bombs used in an Israeli airstrike, which killed at least 45 Palestinians and injured 200 others in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, was also the United States.