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Israel’s attacks on Gaza: The weapons and mapping the scale of destruction [1]

['Hanna Duggal', 'Shakeeb Asrar', 'Mohammed Hussein', 'Hanna Duggal Shakeeb Asrar']

Date: 2023-11-09

Israel’s deployment of precision-guided missiles (PGMs) casts doubt on the claim that these "smart" bombs reduce collateral damage.

“Militaries around the world often justify the use of smart bombs on the grounds that they are more accurate and, therefore, more humane and legal under international humanitarian law. The principle of distinction, a cornerstone of this law, requires the invading Israeli army to always distinguish between combatants and military targets on the one hand and civilians and civilian objects on the other and to target only the former,” Magnier tells Al Jazeera.

“Above all, it requires Israel to respect international law to ensure that no crimes against humanity are committed and that no military target is hit next to a civilian target known to contain large numbers of internally displaced persons. All of these principles, including the Geneva Convention, were not respected in many places in Gaza.”

This is why Israel uses smart bombs to further its plans, which are not limited to military objectives but to cause maximum civilian casualties and to terrorise the Palestinians in Gaza in order to trigger a general exodus. by Elijah Magnier

According to visual analysis by The New York Times, The Guardian and experts, Israeli forces used 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs on the Jabalia refugee camp on October 31. Two impact craters estimated to be 40 feet (12 metres) wide were identified.

How much damage can a 500-pound bomb do?

According to the Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA), which conducts defence policy research and analysis, a 500-pound blast will severely damage, injure or kill everything or anyone within 20 metres (65 feet). A 2,000-pound blast will increase the destruction radius to 35 metres (115 feet).

Averaged across different types of surfaces, a 500-pound bomb can create a crater of 25 feet (7.6 metres) across and 8.5 feet (2.6 metres) deep while a 2000-pound bomb will carve out a crater 50 feet (15 metres) across and 16 feet (5 metres), according to the PDA.

Even with perfect intelligence and accuracy, many of the PGMs used by Israel cause disproportionate collateral damage.

The weapons carry hundreds of pounds of explosives encased within metal. Within the first week of the Israel-Hamas war, the Biden administration sent 1,800 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) kits, small diameter bombs (SDBs) and other munitions to Israel.

Maintaining Israel’s regional military hegemony is a core element of the United States’ Middle East policy. This has been achieved by US funding an increasing Israeli military arsenal.

On November 2, the United States passed a bill providing $14.5bn in military aid to Israel.

Between 1976 and 2022, the US supplied Israel with almost 30,000 smart munitions including JDAMs, Paveways and SDBs.

What ‘smart bombs’ is Israel using?

Precision-guided missiles (PGMs), also known as smart bombs, employ advanced guidance systems to hit high-value targets.

They can be fired or dropped from aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The guidance systems in these weapons can be used to convert "dumb bombs", which are free-fall, unguided munitions into precision weapons.

“Smart bombs are equipped with different warheads designed for different targets. Some are designed to penetrate hardened bunkers, while others have fragmentation warheads to maximise damage to exposed equipment and personnel,” Magnier tells Al Jazeera.

Guidance systems employed in PGMs include GPS technology, inertial navigation systems (INS) and laser guidance, where a target is marked, either by ground forces or by the aircraft itself, for the bomb to follow.

Most of the bombs Israel has dropped belong to the United States-designed Mk 80 family. Some of these bombs include JDAMs, Paveway laser-guided bombs and small diameter bombs. These are shown in the infographic below.

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[1] Url: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/11/9/israel-attacks-on-gaza-weapons-and-scale-of-destruction

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