NEW YORK: The Israeli airstrike on the civilian-packed Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday involved bombs that weighed at least 2,000 pounds—the second-largest in its arsenal, according to a New York Times report.
Though Israel has used these bombs before, their deployment in a densely populated area has raised human rights concerns, the newspaper said in an analysis.
Eighty-three countries—including the U.S. but not Israel—have signed a declaration that they will not use such explosive weapons in crowded civilian areas. The bombs dropped on Jabaliya created 40-foot-wide craters, and hospital officials say they killed hundreds of Palestinians and wounded hundreds.
According to the analysis conducted by the Times of satellite images, photos, and videos, the bomb used in the Israeli attacks on the site is generally the largest that most militaries use on a regular basis. Such bombs, the newspaper wrote, can be used to target underground infrastructure.
“Two impact craters are about 40 feet wide — dimensions consistent with underground explosions that this type of weapon would produce in light, sandy soil,” the Times wrote, citing a 2016 technical study by Armament Research Services.
According to Marc Garlasco, one of the study’s authors, the bombs might have had a “delay fuse, which delays detonation until milliseconds after penetration of the surface or a building so that the explosion’s destructive power reaches more deeply.”
Garlasco, who works as a military adviser for the Dutch organization PAX, said it was unclear from visuals alone whether the bombs were equipped with bunker-busting warheads, which are designed to pierce through reinforced military structures.
Israel has, so far, killed over 9,488 Palestinians in Gaza, including nearly 3,900 children and 2,500 women, and wounded more than 24,000. Palestinian Ministry of Health reports and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Despite a massive Israeli military buildup around the Gaza borders and sporadic infiltrations on the outskirts of the besieged Strip, Palestinian Resistance continues to repel Israeli attacks.
