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SvennoJ on 29 May 2024
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US-made weapons used in Rafah tent camp strike: Report

Munitions made in the US were deployed by Israel during their deadly attack on a tented camp in Rafah which killed 45 displaced Palestinians, CNN reports, citing analysis of footage from the scene.

The Israeli military claims that it bombed a compound housing Hamas fighters, causing an explosion that triggered a fire that rapidly spread to nearby tents. The encampment in the Tal as-Sultan area of Rafah was razed, killing at least 45 people and injuring some 200 more.

CNN based its findings on footage taken at the scene of Sunday’s strike, saying that the geolocated video showed the tail of a “US-made GBU-39 small diameter bomb” – a finding verified by four explosive weapons experts.

CNN added that serial numbers seen on the remnants of the munitions matched a California-based manufacturer of GBU-39 parts.


To put the tent massacre into some kind of perspective, one of the worst tragedies when I still lived in The Netherlands was the Volendam Cafe fire. Packed on new year's eve, exits blocked, a deadly fast spreading fire broke out. 8 died in the fire, another 6 from injuries.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15935561/

A year before that a massive explosion happened in a fireworks factory in Enschede killing 22
https://taproot.com/remembering-an-accident-enschede-fireworks-disaster/
which turned part of the city into what Gaza looks like now


This tent massacre in Rafah killed 45 people that could escape a lot more easily than those stuck in the cafe... Simply blaming this on, oopsie our rocket set gas canisters or an oil tank on fire is massively downplaying the deaths caused from the missile strikes.

The tent massacre can't be framed as an accident by any means.

GBU-39 bombs ‘not always accurate’

Omar Ashour, a professor of security and military studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says Israel’s military likely avoided naming the exact bomb used to attack Rafah’s tent encampment – now reported to be a US-made GBU-39 – so as not to “embarrass” the administration of US President Biden.

While they are “precision-guided”, GBU-39 bombs are “not always accurate”, hitting their target just 80 to 90 percent of the time, Ashour told Al Jazeera.

They have the potential to miss “by a significant margin”, causing extensive civilian casualties in densely populated areas like Rafah, he said.

“It’s very telling that this is allowed to continue while knowing that there will be significant death among innocent people”, said Ashour.

Another US official resigns over Israel’s war on Gaza: Report

The Washington Post is reporting that another US official has resigned, citing disagreements over a recent State Department report that claimed Israel was not impeding humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

The Post, quoting two sources with knowledge of the matter, identified the official as Stacey Gilbert, who served in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

The report that Gilbert is said to have objected to was published earlier this month and stated the US does not “currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance”.

The findings contravene assessments by the UN and aid groups.


US senator labels Israel’s attack on Rafah ‘horrific’

Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren has said Israel’s attack on Rafah that killed 45 displaced Palestinian civilians in a tented camp was “horrific”.

“Israel has a duty to protect innocent civilians and Palestinians seeking shelter in Rafah have nowhere safe to go,” she wrote on X.

A community note beneath the tweet, however, highlighted that Warren voted in favour of supplying “Israel with $3.8 billion of weapons”, while she also voted to pause US funding for the UN organisation for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).