CNN
—
Weapons experts have identified the remains of two US-made munitions bombs used in an Israeli rocket attack on a school in central Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 22 people, local authorities said.
Hundreds sought refuge in the former school in Nuseirat when it was hit by two rockets.
A CNN video from Sunday showed an ambulance outside the school as people desperately searched through the rubble and destroyed makeshift shelters in the schoolyard.
A man interviewed by a CNN employee at the scene said there was no warning. “We’re pulling a hand here and a leg out of the rubble. Civilians who have done nothing wrong.”
The man echoed what many in Gaza have said in recent days as the Israeli military ordered civilians to leave certain areas in central and southern Gaza: “We are displaced and we will stay here. If he wants to strike again, let him strike. We will stay, even if he wants to destroy all of Gaza and build a new one and call it Netanyahu’s Gaza, we will stay.”
Abdul Kareem Al Assas, a resident of Nuseirat, expressed his despair. “Where should we go? Tell us where to go and we will do it. This is genocide. Why are the Arab countries silent? Don’t give us food or water. We need security… Are there any resistance fighters here? There are only women, children and old people.”
Tayseer Al Kilani, whose family also sought refuge in the school, said: “We all ran away. Then my son came and carried my grandson, who was taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital with injuries. Then another rocket hit. Netanyahu is targeting the UNRWA schools.”
In its statement on the attack, the Israeli Air Force said the Israeli Air Force “attacked a number of terrorists operating in the area of the UNRWA Abu Oraiban school building in Nuseirat. This location served as a hideout and operational infrastructure from which attacks on Israeli forces operating in the Gaza Strip were directed and carried out.”
CNN cannot independently verify whether Hamas members were present.
Weapons researchers contacted by CNN were able to identify parts of the missiles used in the attack.
Patrick Senft, research coordinator at Armament Research Services (ARES), warned: “Many parts are too damaged to allow clear identification.”
However, one image shows “distinctive screw casings, fin slots and the internal mechanism of the tail section of a GBU-39,” he said. The GBU-39 is a 250-pound, small-caliber, guided air-to-ground munition made by Boeing.
Trevor Ball, a senior member of the U.S. Army’s explosive ordnance disposal team, agreed that the images likely showed part of the fin of a small bomb.
Ball told CNN that the site also contained wreckage from an American-made Hellfire missile, including the tip of the guidance system.
“Other ammunition was probably involved, as in the pictures I have seen, the damage to the roof from the subsequent attack is minimal.”
