In-depth Analysis Reveals: Israel Deploys Massive Barrage of 2,000-Pound Bombs on Gaza, Unprecedented Since Vietnam
Israel's intensive offensive in Gaza involved dropping numerous massive bombs, capable of causing fatal injuries over a distance of 1,000 feet or more, according to an analysis by CNN and AI company Synthetaic
During the initial month of the Gaza conflict, Israel deployed numerous large bombs, with the potential to cause harm from a distance exceeding 1,000 feet, as indicated by an analysis conducted by CNN and Synthetaic, an artificial intelligence company.
Satellite images from the early phase of the conflict uncovered over 500 craters measuring at least 12 meters (40 feet) in diameter, which correspond to the size of craters expected from 2,000-pound bombs. These bombs are four times heavier than the largest ones used by the United States against ISIS in Mosul, Iraq.
Experts in weapons and warfare attribute the high death toll to the widespread use of heavy munitions like the 2,000-pound bomb. Gaza's population density is among the highest in the world, making the impact of such heavy munitions particularly devastating.
"The use of 2,000-pound bombs in a densely populated area like Gaza will have long-lasting effects on the communities, taking decades to recover," stated John Chappell, an advocacy and legal fellow at CIVIC, a Washington DC organization dedicated to reducing civilian harm in conflict.
Israel is facing international pressure due to the extensive damage in Gaza. Even the US President, a staunch ally, has accused Israel of indiscriminate bombing. Israeli officials argue that their use of heavy munitions is necessary to eliminate Hamas, who have committed numerous violent acts. They also maintain that they are making efforts to minimize civilian casualties.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated in response to CNN's reporting that they are taking action to dismantle Hamas's military and administrative capabilities in retaliation for their attacks. Unlike Hamas, who deliberately targets Israeli civilians, the IDF operates within the confines of international law and takes precautions to minimize harm to civilians. Proponents of Israel's campaign in Gaza argue that the heavy munitions used act as bunker busters and contribute to the destruction of Hamas's underground tunnel network in the Gaza Strip.
Western military forces generally use 2,000-pound bombs sparingly due to the potential impact on densely populated areas like Gaza, according to experts. Indiscriminate bombing is prohibited by international humanitarian law. Former US defense intelligence analyst and UN war crimes investigator Marc Garlasco stated that the intensity of Israel's initial month of bombardment in Gaza had not been seen since Vietnam.
Garlasco, currently serving as a military adviser at PAX, a Dutch non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting peace, thoroughly examined all the incidents discussed in this report for CNN.
"Comparatively speaking, you'd have to look back to the Vietnam war," Garlasco stated. "Even in both Iraq wars, the intensity was never as high."
The powerful munitions, largely produced by the United States, have the potential to lead to significant casualties and possess a lethal fragmentation radius - a range where individuals are at risk of injury or death - of up to 365 meters (approximately 1,198 feet), equivalent to the area of 58 soccer fields. Experts in weaponry and warfare attribute the rising death toll to the widespread deployment of heavy armaments, including the 2,000-pound bomb. Authorities in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip report approximately 20,000 fatalities since October 7.
The majority of the deceased individuals are women and children, according to the provided data.
CNN collaborated with the US-based AI company Synthetaic to utilize Rapid Automatic Image Categorization (RAIC) technology to identify craters, smoke plumes, and damaged structures in specific satellite images of the Gaza Strip. The results were personally examined by a Synthetaic team member and CNN reporters.
Annie Shiel, US advocacy director at CIVIC, stated that the findings by CNN and Synthetaics "highlight the immense scale of the bombardment within a brief timeframe."
A man sits on debris as Palestinians conduct a search and rescue operation in Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, on November 1.
Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images
A high-intensity offensive
Israel has been waging a fierce campaign in Gaza for more than two months, utilizing intense aerial bombing, continuous artillery barrages, and a ground invasion that commenced on October 27.
Satellite imagery and videos reveal the widespread devastation caused by the operation in the besieged enclave. According to Larry Lewis, research director at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), the level of strikes in Gaza in just two months is comparable to the combined strikes in Mosul and Raqqa during US-led coalition operations against ISIS. Lewis, who was formerly the US State Department's senior adviser on civilian harm, described the number of strikes as "an incredible amount" within that time period.
The US only used a 2,000-pound bomb once in its battle against ISIS, the most recent Western conflict with a militant group in the Middle East. The bomb was dropped on Raqqa, Syria, which was proclaimed as the self-declared capital of the caliphate.
As of November 6, the death toll in Gaza had exceeded 10,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah, citing authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza. This was reported on the final day of the CNN and Synthetaics dataset.
During a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee later that week, Barbara Leaf, the most senior American diplomat on the Middle East as the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, stated that the death toll in the region could be even higher than what is currently being reported. "In this period of conflict and the conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are," she said. "We think they're very high, frankly. It could be even higher than are being cited."
CNN was informed last week by US intelligence sources that nearly half of the air-to-surface munitions dropped on Gaza were unguided "dumb bombs," which can pose a significant threat to civilians in densely populated areas. Satellite imaging has detected some of these bombs, including the 2,000-pound MK-84s, in the craters. Israel possesses a significant stock of these large bombs, which are known as MK-84s, and attaching a GPS-guided kit to them transforms them into GBU-31s.
Two sources familiar with the situation have stated that the US has supplied Israel with over 5,400 MK-84s since October 7th.
Chappell from CIVIC remarked, "The destruction we have witnessed in Gaza is, unfortunately, partly attributed to the United States. A significant amount of it is caused by bombs manufactured in the United States."
Extensive big bomb attacks around Gaza City
The 2,000-pound bombs feature prominently in attacks on the perimeter of Gaza City, the epicenter of the Israeli military operation in October and much of November.
The Israeli ground forces laid siege to the city in early November. Satellite images suggest that the heavy bombardment around Gaza City may have facilitated its encirclement by Israeli troops.
In northern Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp, satellite images revealed two large craters from Israel's October 31 bombing, which was condemned by the UN as a "disproportionate attack that could amount to war crimes." The bombing, according to civilian harm watchdog Airwars, resulted in over 100 deaths and caused catastrophic damage in the densely populated area.
A total of 19 members of an Al Jazeera employee's family were killed in the bombing, which Israel said was aimed at Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari, resulting in his death and the destruction of his base. The aftermath of the attack created two craters, measuring 24 meters (nearly 79 feet) wide and 13 meters (nearly 43 feet) wide, which experts likened to the impact of an earthquake. This was determined based on satellite imagery.
Lewis, a former State Department adviser, stated that the Jabalya strike on October 31 was something that the US would never do. He also commented that Israel's tolerance for civilian harm compared to expected operational benefits is significantly different from what the US would accept.
The coastal highway running through the Al Shati, or Beach camp, displays a substantial crater that matches the impact of a 2,000-pound bomb. In a nearby neighborhood north of the camp, 14 craters consistent with 2,000-pound bombs are visible within a single square kilometer.
The Beach camp was among the initial areas in Gaza where Israeli ground troops secured a strong position. Satellite images captured on November 6 revealed that the refugee camp had been nearly flattened by the bombardment.
The lethal fragmentation zone
"We were startled by the sudden sound of two airstrikes. It was deafening and seemed to shake the ground like an earthquake. We witnessed stones being thrown in every direction," reported a man to a CNN stringer immediately following what appeared to be a significant bomb attack on the Beach camp on November 6. "We came here to find 10 houses damaged by the strike."
The destructive power of the 2,000-pound bombs is evident in numerous videos reviewed by CNN, showing multiple buildings flattened in a single strike with a lethal fragmentation radius of 365 meters (about 1,198 ft). On October 24, Israel targeted a location less than 100 meters (about 328 ft) from Wafa Hospital. In an interview with al-Jazeera shortly after the strike, the hospital's director, Fouad Najm, described the attack as "terrifying for the patients and medics." Due to sustained nearby strikes and fuel outages, the hospital has ceased operations.
It is uncertain if the explosion on October 24th resulted in substantial harm to the hospital. CNN used geolocation to identify the blast in a video, and compared it to 12-meter and 15-meter craters seen in satellite imagery, which are indicative of 2,000-pound bombs.
PAXs Garlasco stated that the hospital is clearly within the lethal fragmentation range of a 2,000-pound bomb, and it would likely have caused damage. In one area near Beach camp, satellite imagery from November 6 showed wide-scale destruction with seven schools within the lethal fragmentation zone of at least five craters. Israeli armored vehicles were also observed in and around the schools in the satellite images.
Garlasco stated that when a weapon is used in such close proximity to a civilian building, it is inevitable that the weapon will cause damage. The Israeli Air Force reported that it had dropped 6,000 munitions and attacked over 22,000 targets in Gaza since the start of the war, averaging 1,000 bombs dropped per day.
Our investigation was facilitated by RAIC, an image, video, and geospatial data detection platform developed by Synthetaic. RAIC utilizes unsupervised AI to quickly analyze unlabeled data without the need for models. In partnership with CNN, Synthetaic utilized RAIC to identify craters, smoke plumes, and damaged buildings in satellite imagery of the Gaza Strip. The results were then reviewed by a member of the Synthetaics team and two open-source intelligence journalists from CNN.
CNNs Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.
