US supplying Israel with bunker-buster bombs amid continuing attacks on Gaza, Report

New York: The United States has supplied Israel with large bunker-buster bombs, among tens of thousands of other weapons and artillery shells as the Israeli military presses on its deadly offensive against Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing US officials.

The Weapons deliveries have included some 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells and began shortly after the October 7 attack, although details on the exact timing of the shipments are unavailable, including the transfer of 100 BLU-109, 2,000-pound destroyer bombs, the newspaper said.

The bomb, which carries a warhead weighing more than 900 kilograms, has previously been used in some of the deadliest Israeli attacks on the populated Palestinian territory, including an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp that killed more than 100 people last month.

The New York Times reported back then that the regime dropped at least two 2,000-pound bombs — the second largest type in its arsenal — on the site of the densely populated refugee camp. Israel also used the bombs to strike Gaza’s tunnels that are a lifeline of the underground economy for the enclave — totally blockaded by land, air, and sea since the Jewish state waged its war on the territory.

 Israel alleges that Hamas has built its headquarters in bunkers and tunnels. In mid-November, the Israeli occupation forces raided al-Shifa Hospital, following days of heavy attacks in the area surrounding one of the largest medical centers in the Gaza Strip.

 Israel claimed that a cross-border tunnel had been built under the building. Israeli soldiers entered the facility while tanks and bulldozers were stationed in the courtyard of the hospital, where around 7,000 people were sheltering, along with 1,500 patients and medical staff. The Israeli military has reportedly detained the director of al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip along with several other senior doctors.

Hamas has strongly rejected the allegations, saying that Israel “which had no military achievements in Gaza, wants to take revenge on civilians and patients.”