Bomb fragments at UN school consistent with US-made weapon, experts say
A weapon used in a strike on a UNRWA school sheltering displaced people on June 6 appears to be U.S.-made, three munitions experts told ABC News.
Journalist Emad Abu Shawiesh captured video of weapons fragments at the UNRWA al Sardi school building in Nuseirat in Gaza on June 6.
The weapon fragments seen in the video are consistent with the nose section of a U.S.-made GBU-39 "Small Diameter Bomb," Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordinance disposal specialist, told ABC News.
The GBU-39 also appeared to have been employed in a deadly strike on May 26 in Rafah, Gaza, according to Ball and another munitions expert, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Mark Hiznay, an associate director with the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division of Human Rights Watch, told ABC News the image shows the remnants of a GBU-39.
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, a director at the consultancy Armament Research Services, said the image was consistent with the Small Diameter Bomb series.
“Given what we know about the IDF arsenal and munitions used in previous strikes, the remnants are most likely from a GBU-39 SDB and include a portion of the nose (forward section) of the bomb,” Jenzen-Jones said, adding that other munitions could have been used in the strike, which he had not yet assessed in detail.
-ABC News Chris Looft