Throughout the first six weeks of the struggle in Gaza, Israel routinely used one in all its greatest and most damaging bombs in areas it designated protected for civilians, in line with an evaluation of visible proof by The New York Instances.
The video investigation focuses on using 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 consultants say they’re nearly by no means dropped by U.S. forces in densely populated areas anymore.
The Instances programmed a man-made intelligence device to scan satellite tv for pc imagery of south Gaza for bomb craters. Instances reporters manually reviewed the search outcomes, on the lookout for craters measuring roughly 40 toes throughout or bigger. Munitions consultants say usually solely 2,000-pound bombs type craters of that dimension in Gaza’s mild, sandy soil.
Finally, 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 risk 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 a press release to The Instances that Israel’s precedence was destroying Hamas and “questions of this kind will be looked into at a later stage.” The spokesman additionally stated that the I.D.F. “takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.”
However U.S. officials have said that Israel ought to do extra to cut back civilian casualties whereas preventing Hamas. The Pentagon elevated shipments to Israel of smaller bombs that it considers higher suited to city environments like Gaza. Nonetheless, since October, america has additionally despatched greater than 5,000 MK-84 munitions — a kind of two,000-pound bomb.
Eric Schmitt, John Ismay, Neil Collier, Yousur Al-Hlou and Christoph Koettl contributed reporting.
