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Days of Palestine
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Investigation: Israel Dropped US-Made 500lb Bomb on Gaza Beach Café, Killing Dozens
DayofPal– The bomb Israel used in an attack on the beachside café of Al-Baqa some days ago weighed 500 lb (230kg) and was manufactured by the U.S. with the type MK-82, a general-purpose bomb known for its wide blast radius and destructive capability, an investigation by The Guardian reveals. The Israeli airstrike on a crowded beachside café in Gaza City killed at least 24 Palestinians and injured dozens more, including children, in what human rights experts are calling a potential war crime. The strike, which took place on Monday, leveled the Al-Baqa Café, a popular two-storey venue frequented by families and young people along Gaza's beachfront. Among the dead were children, a prominent filmmaker, a journalist, and a well-known artist. Survivors, many of them severely wounded, were pulled from the rubble in scenes of chaos and grief. Ordnance experts consulted by The Guardian identified remnants of the bomb as belonging to the MK-82 series, or potentially the MPR500, both of which are powerful, air-dropped munitions widely used by the U.S. military. The impact left a massive crater and destroyed much of the surrounding area. Despite claims by the Israeli military that it had taken steps to minimize civilian harm through aerial surveillance, experts and rights groups say the evidence points to a deliberate attack on a known civilian area. 'The military would have known the café was full,' said Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. 'This should be investigated as a war crime.' Legal experts echoed that assessment, highlighting the use of such heavy munitions in a densely populated civilian zone. 'Even with the best targeting in the world, using heavy munitions in such a space leads to indiscriminate outcomes. This violates international law,' said Dr. Andrew Forde, a human rights law expert at Dublin City University. The café was not in an evacuation zone, and satellite imagery suggests it had clear visibility from above, further raising questions about the Israeli army's claim that the strike targeted militants or military assets. Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosives expert, confirmed that fragments recovered from the site matched components of MK-82 or MPR500 bombs, underscoring the destructive power of the ordnance used. The strike comes amid growing international concern over the scale and intensity of Israel's military campaign in Gaza. According to Reuters, the United States supplied Israel with vast quantities of advanced weaponry during the first year of the war, including at least 14,000 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, and more than 2,600 small-diameter air-dropped munitions. In 2024, the Biden administration agreed to resume the delivery of 500-pound bombs to Israel, despite mounting allegations of war crimes and accusations of genocide. Legal and humanitarian organizations are calling for independent investigations into attacks on civilian sites and for an immediate halt to arms transfers fueling the war. Shortlink for this post:
The National
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Experts identify 230kg bomb used in deadly Gaza cafe strike
According to reports from the Guardian, shrapnel recovered from the strike has revealed the weight and scale of the explosive, which killed around 30 Palestinians when it was dropped on Al-Baqa cafe on Monday. International law experts have said the use of such powerful munitions in a civilian area was likely unlawful and could constitute a war crime. READ MORE: 4 members of Palestine Action charged over RAF break-in Ordnance experts analysed fragments of the explosive through photographs of the cafe ruins and found them to be remainders of an MK-82 general purpose 230kg bomb, a US-made device that has been commonplace in bombing campaigns in recent years. Trevor Ball, a weapons researcher and former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, identified a Jdam tail section and thermal battery suggesting either an MPR500 or an MK-82 bomb was dropped, an assessment echoed by another expert with extensive experience in recent conflicts, while a third said they could not make a reliable assessment from the pictures presented by the Guardian. The experts also said the crater left in the area was further indication of a large and powerful explosive being used. Victims from the explosion include a number of women and children, a journalist, an artist and a filmmaker. Inside the destroyed eatery, which was once a popular recreational spot for young people and families in Gaza City (Image: AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Under international law, military forces are forbidden to carry out attacks that cause 'incidental loss of civilian life' that is 'excessive or disproportionate' to any potential advantages to be gained. Gerry Simpson, of Human Rights Watch, said: 'The Israeli military hasn't said exactly whom it was targeting but it said it used aerial surveillance to minimise civilian casualties, which means it knew the cafe was teeming with customers at the time. READ MORE: There will be an 'alternative' to Labour at next election, says Jeremy Corbyn 'The military would also have known that using a large guided air-dropped bomb would kill and maim many of the civilians there. 'The use of such a large weapon in an obviously crowded cafe risks that this was an unlawful disproportionate or indiscriminate attack and should be investigated as a war crime.' Al-Baqa cafe, founded over 40 years ago, was a two-storey building in Gaza City with an open upper deck and a lower floor that had views of the beach through its wide windows. The port area where Al-Baqa cafe was located was not covered by any evacuation orders issued by the IDF to warn of impending military operations.
India Today
17-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Bomb that Israel needs to destroy Iranian site key to making nukes
The primary goal of Israel's strikes on Iran is to render Tehran incapable of pursuing nuclear weapons. But can Tel Aviv achieve this goal? For this answer, Israel looks towards its all-weather ally Iran's nuclear programme hinges on whether Israel can destroy the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, south of Tehran. Israel has been unable to cause any major damage to this facility. Satellite image: Maxar Technologies advertisementThe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has purified uranium up to 83.7 per cent purity at Fordow facility, slightly lower than 90 per cent required to make nuclear weapons. Centrifuges separating Uranium-235 isotopes from Uranium-238 are located at an estimated depth of 90-meter beneath mountains at the Fordow nuclear says Israel has employed 230-kg MPR 500 rigid surface penetration bombs at this site. But these bombs can penetrate upto 1-meter of enforced concrete. Experts say that only US-made GBU-57A/B 'bunker buster' bombs could make any consequential damage to this site. These bombs are so heavy that they can be launched only from B-2 Stealth bombers that Israel doesn't have in its fleet, meaning Israel would need the US Air Force dropping these bombs on per the Collective Awareness to the Unexploded Ordinance (CAT-UXO) database, GBU-57A/B GPS-guided bombs can penetrate up to 60-meter or 200-feet of enforced concrete. Since the depth of the facility is greater than the bomb's penetration capability, several of these bombs would need to be dropped to make the facility busters are special bombs that can go deeper into the Earth surface and concrete structure before they detonate, causing the structure to InMust Watch
