Israel used US munitions to bomb Gaza’s Al-Awda school sheltering displaced Palestinians

Israeli forces used US made munitions to bomb the Al-Awda school in Gaza’s Khan Younis, where hundreds of displaced Palestinians were sheltering, a CNN analysis has determined.

The strike on the school killed at least 27 Palestinians and wounded 53 others, the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza said.

CNN’s team analysed a video of the strike taken by one of their journalists at the scene and identified the munitions visible in the aftermath of the strike as a US-made GBU-39 small-diameter bomb.

Three explosive weapons experts who analysed the video said they could see the tail section of the munition.

"Based on the characteristic shape of the fin, the screw housings, as well as the overall shape of the munition fragment…this remnant is consistent with a GBU-39-series tail actuation system located in the rear of the munition," research co-ordinator Patrick Senft from Armament Research Services told CNN.

The GBU-39 is manufactured by Boeing and is described as a high-precision munition which is designed to "attack strategically important point targets”.

The munition is supposed to result in low level collateral damage, experts told CNN, however, confirmed that any munition regardless of size will incur risks in densely populated areas.

The specification of the munition was further reaffirmed by Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician.

In a post on social media platform X, Ball said "part of the section [of the small diameter bomb] is missing, showing a cutaway of the internals".

Israel’s military said they were targeting an alleged Hamas operative who took part in the 7 October attack on Israel, claiming they used precise munitions.

This was not the first time a GBU-39 was used in Gaza, with CNN’s expert team identifying remnants of the munitions several times over the past few months.

Israeli forces carried out attacks in four schools in Gaza this week.

This includes 16 displaced Palestinians killed in the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, four killed in the Holy Family school in Gaza City, several killed in an UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat and those killed at the Al-Awda school.

Israel has killed at least 38,345 Palestinians since 7 October and wounded at least 88,241 in the same time frame.

The war on the besieged enclave has devastated entire neighbourhoods and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.