At least 40 people were killed including 14 children and nine women in a strike on a UN school in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, said the Gaza Health Ministry. The munitions used by Israeli fighter jets appear to have been US-made, said three weapons experts who examined and verified footage, a report from The Washington Post claims.
The school, which is organized and operated by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is located in the Nuseirat refugee camp where some 6,000 civilians were sheltering after being displaced by the war, said UNRWA. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed their aircraft attacked “three classrooms” with precision weapons while targeting a group of militants they say participated in the October 7 attacks.
“Attacks on displaced Palestinians are escalating every day and hospitals across Gaza are on the brink of collapse,” said Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza director for the UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians group. “At Al-Aqsa hospital there are not enough operating theaters, beds or equipment to deal with the influx of patients.”
Debris footage following the attack showed the nose cone of a GBU-39 small diameter bomb which was used to penetrate the building's concrete structure, experts said. They add that the GBU-39s were US-made, and images of their cage code linked them to Woodward HRT, a weapons components manufacturer registered in Valencia, California.
“One of its benefits is that it can penetrate concrete, penetrate buildings, and take out floors exactly like this. So essentially what you’re seeing is that solid nose cone left over after the blast,” said Trevor Ball, a former explosive ordnance disposal technician for the US Army.
Ball cautioned that in an area with a heavy presence of civilians, the calculations for using a small diameter bomb should change. And Wes J. Bryant, a former targeting professional in the US Air Force said that US military commanders most likely would not have greenlit a strike such as this.
“We would have categorized the facility as ‘dual-use,' meaning that the facility has both a civilian and a military purpose,” said Bryant. “This automatically places the target at the highest possible risk level for collateral damage and civilian casualties.”
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel and breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. Nearly 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted during the attack. Over 36,500 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.