At least one bomb used in the Israeli attack that killed dozens of people, including women and children, on a United Nations school building on Thursday appears to have been made in the United States, according to a weapons expert and videos reviewed by The New York. Times.
The school, located in Nuseirat, central Gaza, was under construction used as a refuge for thousands of displaced Palestinians. The Israeli military said it targeted classrooms occupied by Palestinian militants, although it provided no evidence to support that claim.
A video of ammunition debris, shot by Palestinian journalist Emad Abu Shawiesh, shows the remains of a GBU-39 bomb, designed and manufactured by Boeing. The use of this weapon in the attack was first reported by CNN.
The footage was uploaded to Instagram shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday in Gaza, about two and a half hours after the strike was reported on Telegram, a messaging app. The Times, using details seen in the videos, confirmed that the gun debris was filmed at the U.N. school.
Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, identified the part of the weapon seen in the footage as the nose of a GBU-39. “This distinct nose is unique to the GBU-39 series of ammunition and, due to its solid construction, it can survive the explosion intact,” he said.
Visible holes on several floors of the UN compound also suggest the use of smaller precision-guided munitions such as the GBU-39, Ball added.
The school was previously attacked on May 14, when Israel said it had killed 15 militants there; it's possible that some of the damage or even the nose tip of the GBU-39 seen Thursday may have been left behind by that attack. But several videos taken in the aftermath of the strike showed mattresses, clothes and food cans covered in rubble near the strike zone in one of the classrooms, indicating that the damage was new. In one of these videos, a man is seen recovering body parts of those who were killed and raising a severed finger towards the camera.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets targeted three classrooms in a school building housing 20 to 30 Palestinian militants affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militia also backed by Iran . Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said militants had used the compound to plan attacks against Israeli forces, although he gave no specific examples.
The affected compound was run by UNRWA, the main United Nations body helping Palestinians in Gaza. Philippe Lazzarini, director of UNRWA, wrote on social media that 6,000 Palestinians had taken refuge in the school compound.
Khalil Daqran, spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al Balah, said the bodies of at least 40 people killed in the attack had been brought to the hospital. At least some of the victims were women, children and the elderly, he added, without however providing precise figures.
Colonel Lerner, the Israeli military spokesman, said he was “not aware of any civilian casualties” following the attack.
U.S. officials have for months been encouraging the Israeli military to use GBU-39 bombs, which weigh at least 250 pounds, rather than larger 2,000-pound bombs because they are generally more accurate. But this is the second time in less than two weeks that dozens of Palestinians have been killed by this specific type of bomb. On May 26, 45 people were killed in another camp for displaced people, again by GBU-39 bombs.
Wes Bryant, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant and targeting expert who served on a task force critical of Israel's use of weapons in Gaza, told the Times that precision and little collateral intent of these bombs were compromised if not used correctly.
“Even though they're using smaller bombs, they're still deliberately targeting where they know there are civilians,” Bryant said. “The only thing they did in going from 2,000-pound bombs to 250-pound bombs was kill a few fewer civilians.”
Nadir Ibrahim contributed to the reporting. Ainara Tiefenthaler contributed to the video production.