Update: Make of this what you will — Rafah Kid has posted on Twitter, “Seriously they always use banned stuff…the dum dum bullets are back too…small entry and MASSIVE exit hole..noone cares”
In today’s Ha’aretz, Amira Haas not only dares to ask, “Is Israel using illegal weapons in Gaza?”, but uses reports and the expertise of military analyst Mark Garlasco to give a definitive and detailed Yes.
Garlasco confirms the use of white phosphorous and suggests it arises from “conclusions drawn from the Second Lebanon War, in which the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] lost many tanks”. He also notes the first use in warfare of the GPS-guided mortar, with an unexpected range of error that led to the bombing of the Jabaliya school/shelter, and he confirms the use of the US-supplied “bunker-busting bomb” GBU-39.
On Sunday we noted the story from The Jerusalem Post that the Israeli Air Force is using new bunker-busting bombs provided by the United States just before the start of the Gaza conflict:
The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes.
Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure on Saturday. It was also used in Sunday’s bombing of tunnels in Rafah.
3:02 a.m. OK, that’s it for awhile. Thanks to all for supporting the blog and sending in items. Back in the morning.
3 a.m. Reuters reports Hamas to send delegation to Egypt on Monday at invitation of Egyptians. This will coincide with French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Cairo.
2:15 a.m. All those associated with the Israeli information campaign take note:
While CNN television is generally helping Israel hold its publicity line as it moves further into Gaza, CNN’s website is confronting it. It is now leading with the story, based on the interview almost 12 hours ago with Norwegian doctor Erik Fosse, of patients “lying everywhere” in an Al-Shifa hospital lacking medicine and equipment. The website is also highlighting Fosse’s remark that “about 30 percent of the casualties at Shifa Hospital on Sunday were children, both among the dead and the wounded”. (The Palestinian death toll of 507 is now the #2 story on the website.)
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