FALCON POWERS – American media outlets reported on Sunday that Israel used a US-made precision-guided bomb during its airstrike on the Al-Tawjihi school in Gaza City, which resulted in the martyrdom of more than 100 people.
CNN quoted weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith as saying that the GBU-39 bomb manufactured by Boeing is a high-precision munition “designed to attack strategically important targets”.
While the Israeli army stated in statements issued yesterday that it “used precise weapons and ammunition in an attempt to reduce the number of civilian casualties”, Cobb-Smith, a former British Army artillery officer, explained that “the use of any munition, even of this size, would always carry risks in a densely populated area”.
For his part, the director of the Supply Department in the Civil Defense in Gaza, Mohammed Al-Mughayr, said that the Israeli army used 3 deadly American “MK-84” or “Mark 84” missiles, which weigh more than 2,000 pounds and reach a temperature of 7,000 degrees, in the bombardment that targeted the Al-Tawjihi school and mosque in the Al-Darraj neighborhood in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army had acknowledged targeting the school using 3 missiles during the operation, but claimed they were small missiles incapable of causing widespread damage, questioning the validity of the casualty figures.
For its part, the Hebrew newspaper “Maariv” said that precision-guided bombs using the American “JDAM” system, or the so-called “Heavy Snow”, were used in the bombardment of the school.
It explained that these bombs “are GPS-guided, rely on advanced sensor technology and artificial intelligence”, as they were designed to be a free-fall, unguided bomb within the so-called “dumb bombs” category, and have evolved to allow them to slow down their speed to ensure the combat aircraft can distance itself as much as possible.
The White House expressed on Saturday the US administration’s concern over reports of civilian casualties in Gaza due to the Israeli airstrike on the “Al-Tawjihi” school.
