Through the first six weeks of the struggle in Gaza, Israel routinely used certainly one of its greatest and most damaging bombs in areas it designated secure for civilians, in line with an evaluation of visible proof by The New York Occasions.
The video investigation focuses on the usage of 2,000-pound bombs in an space of southern Gaza the place Israel had ordered civilians to maneuver for security. Whereas bombs of that dimension are utilized by a number of Western militaries, munitions specialists say they’re nearly by no means dropped by U.S. forces in densely populated areas anymore.
The Occasions programmed a man-made intelligence device to scan satellite tv for pc imagery of south Gaza for bomb craters. Occasions reporters manually reviewed the search outcomes, on the lookout for craters measuring roughly 40 toes throughout or bigger. Munitions specialists say usually solely 2,000-pound bombs type craters of that dimension in Gaza’s gentle, sandy soil.
In the end, the investigation recognized 208 craters in satellite tv for pc imagery and drone footage. Due to restricted satellite tv for pc imagery and variations in a bomb’s results, there are more likely to have been many circumstances that weren’t captured. However the findings reveal that 2,000-pound bombs posed a pervasive menace to civilians searching for security throughout south Gaza.
In response to questions in regards to the bomb’s use in south Gaza, an Israeli navy spokesman stated in an announcement to The Occasions that Israel’s precedence was destroying Hamas and “questions of this type might be seemed into at a later stage.” The spokesman additionally stated that the I.D.F. “takes possible precautions to mitigate civilian hurt.”
However U.S. officers have stated that Israel ought to do extra to scale back civilian casualties whereas combating Hamas. The Pentagon elevated shipments to Israel of smaller bombs that it considers higher suited to city environments like Gaza. Nonetheless, since October, the USA has additionally despatched greater than 5,000 MK-84 munitions — a sort of two,000-pound bomb.
Eric Schmitt, John Ismay, Neil Collier, Yousur Al-Hlou and Christoph Koettl contributed reporting.
