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Aside from floor-penetrating munitions, US has also offered Israel numerous other kinds of bombs and artillery shells.
The United States has offered so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs and an array of other munitions to Israel for its war on Gaza, according to a report by The Wall Avenue Journal.
Washington has transferred 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel that are meant to penetrate hardened buildings just before exploding, the report stated, citing unnamed US officials.
The bomb carries a warhead weighing much more than 900 kilogrammes (19,80 pounds) and has beforehand been made use of by the US in conflicts which includes the war in Afghanistan.
It is not the only style of ammunition supplied by the US to Israel for the war on the besieged enclave, which has so much killed extra than 15,000 Palestinians, like at minimum 6,150 small children. The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that began the war killed 1,200 people today.
Unlike the frequent arms updates by the US about the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon has remained generally silent on its degree of weapons guidance for Israel amid international condemnation of Israeli navy functions in Gaza.
The WSJ report said a surge of US arms to Israel considering that the start out of the war has provided 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells that have generally been carried on C-17 military services cargo planes.
Washington has also despatched additional than 5,000 unguided Mk82 bombs, extra than 5,400 Mk84 bombs, about 1,000 GBU-39 compact-diameter bombs, and close to 3,000 JDAMs, a advice kit that turns unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions, it claimed.
This is on top of the billions of dollars Israel gets every single yr in US monetary aid for its armed forces functions.
According to the WSJ, substantial bombs made by the US have been made use of in some of the deadliest Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, which include a strike that levelled an condominium block in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing far more than 100 persons. Israel mentioned the assault was justified as it killed a Hamas leader.
Israel’s powerful aerial bombing of Gaza restarted soon immediately after the conclude of a weeklong truce on Friday that observed dozens of captives held in Gaza exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Several dozens of Palestinians have currently been killed significantly less than 24 several hours after the strikes resumed.
The Israeli military, which has consistently been telling Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza amid its floor functions, claimed on Saturday that parts of southern Gaza are also a fight zone now. Folks on the floor and legal rights groups have repeatedly said there is no safe and sound put in Gaza.
‘Questioning in Congress’
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said the report on the supply of large-responsibility penetration bombs to Israel has lifted new concerns about continued US arms transfers to the place.
“These are significant bombs that the US has used in the previous in its wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but generally in open regions … Now Israel is utilizing these bombs in a extremely unique environment in Gaza, on a densely populated civilian population,” Zhou-Castro said.
“Many individuals are now questioning in Congress regardless of whether continuing to give these ‘bunker bombs’ is a fantastic strategy and also contacting for much more transparency,” she mentioned.
The penetration bombs could theoretically be utilized to concentrate on the tunnels that Hamas takes advantage of to shift close to staff and munitions. On the other hand, the tunnels are positioned below a densely populated urban space, which would suggest applying the bombs would direct to many much more civilian casualties.
The US has totally backed the Israeli war efforts in the experience of rising international pressure for a full ceasefire. Washington has frequently stated it has requested Israel to test to limit civilian casualties, even as it lay siege to Gaza’s major hospitals.
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