US-made weapons guidance system used in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza: Amnesty International

Washington, DC [US] : An Amnesty International investigation alleged that a US-made weapons guidance system was used in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in October in which 43 civilians were killed, CNN reported.

A report released by the human rights organisation revealed that fragments of the US-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions guidance system were found in the rubble of destroyed homes in the neighbourhood of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

A wide variety of American weapons and munitions are being used by Israel but Amnesty International’s report is one of the first attempts to tie an American-made weapon to a specific attack that left a significant number of civilians dead, as per CNN.

The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a “guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, adverse weather ‘smart’ munitions,” according to the US Air Force.

CNN said it cannot independently verify Amnesty International’s findings.

As per Amnesty International, its weapons experts and a “remote sensing analyst” examined satellite imagery and photos of the homes that show the “fragments of ordnance recovered from the rubble” and the destruction, the report explains. Amnesty’s fieldworkers took the photos.

As a result of these two attacks, 19 children, 14 women, and 10 men were killed, the report claims.

The human rights organisation said it “did not find any indication that there were any military objectives at the sites” of the airstrikes or that the individuals living in the homes were legitimate military targets.

“The organisation found that these air strikes were either direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks,” the report says, calling for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes, as per CNN.

Meanwhile, the IDF called the report “flawed, biased and premature, based on baseless assumptions regarding the IDF’s operations.”

“The assumption that intelligence regarding the military use of a particular structure does not exist unless revealed is contradictory to any understanding of military activity, and the report uses this flawed assumption to imply equally flawed and biased conclusions regarding the IDF, in line with existing biases and prior problematic work by this organization,” the IDF said.

It said “the military regrets any harm caused to civilians or civilian property as a result of its operations and examines all its operations in order to learn and improve.”

Amnesty International said that the use of American weapons for such strikes “should be an urgent wake-up call to the Biden administration.”

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said: “The US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families.”

The US State Department is reviewing Amnesty International’s report, spokesperson Matt Miller said on Wednesday.

“We have made clear in our discussions with Israeli leaders that we are deeply concerned about the protection of civilians in this conflict,” Miller said. “We expect Israel to only target legitimate targets and to adhere to the laws of armed conflict.”

The Pentagon on Tuesday said it too was reviewing the report.

“We are going to continue to consult closely with our Israeli partners on the importance of taking civilian safety into account in conducting their operations,” spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told journalists, according to CNN.