Israeli military used 500lb bomb in strike on Gaza cafe, fragments reveal | Israel-Gaza war

When the Israeli army attacked a target in a crowded coastal cage in Gaza on Monday, it used a bomb (230kg), a strong and random weapon that produces a large wave of explosion and has scattered shrapnel in a large area.

International law experts, children, women and elderly people, including many unprotected civilians, despite the known presence of such ammunition, such an ammunition is almost illegal and said that a war crime can create a crime, he said.

Arms pieces of al-Baqa cafe remnants photographed by Guardian were defined by Ordnance experts as part of the MK-82 general purpose 230kg bomb, a US staple of many bombing campaigns in the last decade.

The large crater left by the explosion is proof of the use of a large and powerful bomb such as MK-82.

A Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said that the attack on the café was reviewed on Monday and that “before the strike, steps were taken to reduce the risk of using civilians to use air surveillance”.

Medicine and other officials said that 24 to 36 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the café and that he had no more injured. Among the dead, he had a well -known filmmaker and an artist, a 35 -year -old housewife and a four -year -old child. Among the wounded, there was a 14 -year -old boy and a 12 -year -old girl.

In accordance with the international law based on the Geneva contracts, it is forbidden to initiate attacks that caused the “coincidence of civil life”, “excessive or disproportionate”The military advantage to be won.

What is accepted as acceptable is open to interpretation, but experts only said that a target that could have a very important impact during a conflict could justify the death of dozens of civilians.

There were two floors in the cafe – a lower floor with open upper deck and wide windows in the beach and sea – and approaches that can be clearly visible from above.

Gerry Simpson of the Human Rights Observation said: “The Israeli army did not say who was fully targeted, but he said that he used air surveillance to minimize civilian losses, which he knew that the café was full of customers at that time.

“The army would know that the use of a large guided air bomb would kill and crippled most of the civilians there.

Human Rights Law at Dublin City University, Assistant Assistant Associate Professor. Andrew Fodede said the strike was shocking. “Especially when you see a situation with heavy ammunition [in a] The crowded civil field, even with the best targeting in the world… This will surely create a random result that is not in line with the Geneva contracts ”.

The Al-Baqa Cafe, which was operated by the family, was founded almost 40 years ago and was known as a good recreation point for young people and families in Gaza. Non -alcoholic beverages made a small choice from tea and biscuits.

Although the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population suffers acutely With growing malnutrition And there are savings or salaries that allow them to boss the remaining cafes, some of them who are constantly threatened to famine.

The port area of ​​the al-Baqa Cafe, where IDF was approaching by IDF, was not covered by none of the evacuation orders warned about military operations.

The University of Copenhagen, the International Law Associate Professor Marc Schack said: “It is almost impossible to see how such an ammunition use can be justified. He accepted 30, accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30. He accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30 and accepted 30, then in exceptional cases

Trevor Ball, a arms researcher and ancient US Army explosive ammunition technician Trevor Ball, found a JDAM tail section and thermal battery, where a MPR500 or MK-82 bomb has fallen.

Another expert who has extensive experience in recent conflicts defined the bomb in a similar way. Third, they said they could not make a reliable evaluation from the pictures presented to them.

Israel has a wide range of ammunition and often used much smaller weapons for sensitive strikes against individuals In GazaIn the last air strike in Lebanon and Iran.

In a long statement earlier this year, IDF said that even the most sophisticated measures used to evaluate civilian damages are almost perfect and ammunition selection is “a professional issue that depends on the nature of the strike target”.

. expression “Although some targets are suitable for smaller loads, others may require heavier ammunition to achieve task success – for example, when they want to eliminate the structures built with certain hard materials, large structures or underground tunnels.”

On Tuesday, an Israeli government spokesman IDF said, “never targeting civilians.”

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, which is a accusation of the militant Islamist group.