CNN first reported that the remains of the American produced GBU-39 small diameter bomb (SDB) were found at the scene, according to four explosive weapons experts who reviewed video shared on social media.
Weapons experts and visual evidence The New York Times also reviewed reached the same conclusion that the bombs were GBU-39s, which are designed and sold in the United States.
“We’re not going to speak to individual payload loadouts on individual Israeli aircraft,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “The [Israeli military] should speak to their conduct of this particular operation, and that would include … discussion of what was used.”
At least 45 people were killed and more than 240 others wounded after the Israeli military used aircraft to strike the outskirts of Rafah, causing a fire to break out. The majority of those killed were women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Kirby added that Israel has already said publicly it used precision-guided munitions with a payload of about 37 pounds, which, if true, “would certainly indicate a desire to be more deliberate and more precise in their targeting.”
And asked Tuesday about the munitions used in the Rafah strike, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters, “I do not know what type of munition was used in that airstrike. I’d have to refer you to the Israelis to speak to that.”
U.S. officials have been pushing Israel to use more precise bombs with a smaller payload, or explosion, which they say claim can reduce civilian casualties.
The Israeli military has also declined to specify the type of bomb used, though an Israeli military spokesperson told The Hill the armament was “an accurate and specific type of munition that carries a low amount of explosives.”
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
