Israel used U.S.-made weapons designed to reduce casualties in a strike that killed dozens of displaced Palestinians in Rafah on Sunday, according to weapons experts and media reports.
The bombs, GBU-39s, were seen in images taken from a displacement camp where at least 45 people were killed, and more than 200 others injured following Israel's strike.
Both CNN and the New York Times published images of the weapons at the scene of Sunday's strike, which has sparked global outrage.
"The warhead portion [of the munition] is distinct, and the guidance and wing section is extremely unique compared to other munitions," Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member who also identified the fragment as being from a GBU-39, told CNN.
"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."
The munition fragments were also marked by a series of numbers beginning with 81873, a unique identifier code assigned by the U.S. to Woodward, an aerospace manufacturer based in Colorado that supplies parts for bombs including the GBU-39, reports the New York Times.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he could not verify whether U.S.-supplied weapons were used by Israel in its latest deadly attack in Rafah, telling reporters during a visit to Moldova that what weapons were used and how they were used would have to be the object of an investigation into the attack.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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