At least 45 people were killed and more than 200 others injured after a fire broke out following the Israeli military\u2019s strike on the outskirts of Gaza\u2019s southernmost city, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian medics. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s escalating assault in Rafah \u2013 where some 1.3 million Palestinians were taking shelter before Israel began its operation there \u2013 has drawn swift international condemnation, with United Nations agencies, aid groups and multiple governments calling on Israel to immediately halt its offensive. <\/p>\n
Israeli tanks were seen advancing further into Rafah on Tuesday for the first time in Israel\u2019s seven-month war against Hamas, signaling a new phase Israel pressing on with its controversial and destructive offensive. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe warhead portion [of the munition] is distinct, and the guidance and wing section is extremely unique compared to other munitions. Guidance and wing sections of munitions are often the remnants left over even after a munition detonates. I saw the tail actuation section and instantly knew it was one of the SDB\/GBU-39 variants.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ball also concluded that while there is a variant of the GBU-39 known as the Focused Lethality Munition (FLM) which has a larger explosive payload but is designed to cause even less collateral damage, this was not the variant used in this case. <\/p>\n
Serial numbers on the remnants of the munitions also matched those for a manufacturer of GBU-39 parts based in California \u2013 pointing to more evidence the bombs were made in the US. <\/p>\n
Asked for comment on the munitions used in the Rafah strike at Tuesday\u2019s briefing, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters: \u201cI do not know what type of munition was used in that airstrike. I\u2019d have to refer you to the Israelis to speak to that.\u201d <\/p>\n
The US has long been the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and that support has continued despite the growing political pressure on the Biden administration over the Gaza offensive. <\/p>\n
Last month, Biden signed a foreign aid bill that included $26 billion for the Israel-Hamas conflict \u2014 including $15 billion in Israeli military aid, $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and $2.4 billion for regional US military operations. <\/p>\n
Hagari told reporters the strike \u2013 which he said targeted senior Hamas commanders \u2013 used two munitions with small warheads containing 17 kilos of explosives, adding these bombs were \u201cthe smallest munitions that our jets could use.\u201d The traditional GBU-39 warhead has an explosive payload of 17 kilos. <\/p>\n
Hagari said the deadly fire which occurred following the strike was not caused solely by weapons used by the Israeli military. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,\u201d Hagari said, adding the IDF was investigating \u201cwhat may have caused such a large fire to ignite.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added that Israel is looking into whether the strike was \u201cunintentionally set off possible stored weapons in a nearby compound.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deadly airstrike in Rafah was a \u201ctragic error,\u201d but said Israel has vowed to press on with its operation despite international outrage and a US warning not to proceed. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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At least 45 people were killed and more than 200 others injured after a fire broke out following the Israeli military\u2019s strike on the outskirts of Gaza\u2019s southernmost city, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian medics. Israel\u2019s escalating assault in Rafah \u2013 where some 1.3 million Palestinians were <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}