In Rafah, Israeli airstrikes and shellings killed scores of refugees sheltering in the city, prompting the International Court of Justice to order Israel to "immediately halt its military offensive or any other action in the Rafah governorate." Even though the US suspended its supply of heavy bombs for a few weeks, this has not stopped the steady flow of US weapons across the Atlantic. In a report last month, Reuters said that the US had "transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions" between the start of the war in Gaza last October and the end of June. The 2,000-pound MK-84 bomb is one of the largest conventional free-fall or unguided bombs in the US arsenal. It is filled with more than more than 945 pounds (429 kilos) of highly explosive material and can cause massive destruction to concrete and metal structures. The bomb is often used against heavily fortified targets or underground bunkers. Its use in densely populated areas is particularly problematic due to the large blast radius and high destructive power.
Andreas Noll, ‘War in Gaza: Germany supplies 30% of Israel's arms imports’, Deutsche Welle
