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On the night of Jan. 7 this year, three 250-pound bombs smashed into an apartment block in the Al Tuffah neighbourhood of northern Gaza. Footage of the aftermath shows walls collapsed, rubble piled up and blackened household items scattered across the scene.
Although a ceasefire has been in effect since October, and a Board of Peace led by US President Donald Trump has been announced to begin phase two of that process, Israel has continued to conduct strikes within Gaza
The IDF claimed they targeted a senior Hamas operative in response to a violation of the ceasefire agreement in the Jan. 7 attack.
Two people were reported to have been killed.
While the strike was an Israeli operation, among the debris were munition remnants of at least three US-made GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs, including one that failed to explode.
American-made munitions like these have played a significant role in Israel’s operations in Gaza.
The US has provided billions of dollars worth of military aid to Israel over the years, and has enacted legislation providing at least US$16.3 billion in direct military aid since the most recent war began. In the first few months of the Trump Administration nearly $12 billion in major weapon sales to Israel were approved with deliveries scheduled to take years to complete.
However, human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said that US-made weapons have been used in Gaza in ways that have likely violated international law. Multiple international media reports have also identified individual instances of civilian harm likely caused by US weaponry deployed by Israel in Gaza.
A 2024 State Department report, completed during the administration of former President Joe Biden, even stated that due to Israel’s “significant reliance on US-made defence articles it is reasonable to assess” that they have been used in “instances inconsistent with its IHL [International Humanitarian Law] obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm” — although Israel says it operates within international law and seeks to mitigate civilian harm while aiming to dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities.
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Yet the full extent of civilian harm in Gaza caused by the use of US-produced weapons remains unclear.
Foreign media are not allowed into Gaza and the documentation of events there has relied heavily on social media footage and the work of local journalists, many of whom have been killed in Israeli air or ground strikes while carrying out their work.
Collating Incidents
Bellingcat has collated scores of incidents like the Jan. 7 strike in Al Tuffah where US-produced munitions have been found in the aftermath of Israeli strikes.
This analysis utilises publicly available media footage and identifies at least 79 specific cases, many of which caused death and damage to civilian infrastructure such as schools, homes and healthcare infrastructure.
While revealing, it is important to note that the data comes with some significant caveats and limitations that must be acknowledged before exploring it.
Gaza has been pummelled since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, when more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds more kidnapped.
In response, Israel is reported to have deployed 30,000 munitions into Gaza in the first seven weeks of the conflict alone. The Israeli Airforce has also bombed over 100 different targets in Gaza in a single day multiple times.
This dataset – which details cases where US-made munition remnants have been found and evidence of their use published in media or posted to social media – therefore only captures a small fraction of the overall incidents over more than two years of war.
Furthermore, Israel and the US both produce some of the same munitions, such as the MK-80 series of bombs. The US supply of this series, especially the 2,000-pound MK-84 of which over 14,000 have reportedly been delivered since Oct. 7 2023, have been central to calls for the suspension of US arms transfers to Israel due to their destructive potential.
But because Israel also makes these bombs domestically the country of origin cannot be definitively identified without specific remnants that show either the lot number, indicating the manufacturer, or other identifying information.
As a result a decision was made to try and track the use of three specific munitions that are made solely in the US and which Israel does not domestically produce. This, again, significantly reduced the number of incidents analysed.
These munitions were Hellfire missiles, GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bomb guidance kits. While this analysis does not track MK-80 series bombs, the JDAM kit is one of several guidance kits that can attach to bombs like the MK-84 but which is only produced by the US.
The full dataset can be found here. The munition identifications were reviewed by Frederic Gras, an independent Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) Expert and Consultant.
Despite all of the above caveats and limitations, the analysis recorded 79 geolocated incidents where remnants of these three models of US-made munitions were either found in the aftermath of a strike or were captured in visual imagery in the moments before impact.
Beyond the 79 cases analysed and included in the dataset, other US-made munitions were identified in a further 26 cases, although it was not possible to geolocate the remnants or strikes prior to publication. It may be possible to geolocate the outstanding incidents in time. Bellingcat is, therefore, including these incidents in the dataset but notes further work is required for them.
Many of the geolocations in the dataset were initially posted publicly by independent geolocators, or volunteers from the GeoConfirmed community, including Anno Nemo, Abu Location, fdov, Chris Osieck, Zvi Adler and Will Cobb. These geolocations were independently checked and verified by Bellingcat.
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For the 79 incidents it was possible to geolocate, Bellingcat sought to compile reports of civilian harm. Yet given the lack of access afforded to international observers it was not possible to independently verify each of these reports of casualties or fatalities.
The reports, many of which cite health authorities in Gaza, detailed that at least 744 people were killed in these 79 strikes, including at least 78 women and 175 children. When reports offered a range for the number killed, or number of women and children killed, Bellingcat used the lower end of the estimate.
Israel rarely provides estimates for civilian casualties from their strikes. It has also claimed that the Gaza Ministry of Health has exaggerated death tolls after specific strikes. Analysing previous public reporting of each incident in the dataset, Bellingcat found that the IDF had claimed at least 69 people that were reported killed in these attacks were militants belonging to Hamas or other factions. In one strike, where at least 33 people were reported killed, the IDF claimed to have targeted “dozens” of Hamas members, releasing the names of 17 people they said were part of Hamas.
Bellingcat asked the IDF if they could provide a total for the number of people killed in the attacks listed in the dataset or for any specific strikes but they did not provide a figure. A spokesperson for the IDF provided information for eight strikes within the dataset that it said sought to hit “terrorist targets”. Bellingcat has noted this response beside each incident in the dataset.
The spokesperson added that Israel “strikes military targets and objectives in accordance with international law and takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures as much as possible.”
The Gaza Ministry of Health has reported that over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. While Israel has long disputed those casualty figures, Israeli media recently cited anonymous Israeli Defence Force (IDF) sources who said they believed them to be largely accurate. Israel has claimed to have killed about 25,000 militants in Gaza.
Attacks on Schools
Attacks on schools, mosques, shelters and residences are all included in the dataset. In total, 28 strikes on schools using US made munitions were identified. GBU-39 bomb remnants were found at the site of 20 of these strikes. Most of these took place before the ceasefire of January 2025.
For example, the Khadija school in Deir Al Balah was targeted in three rounds of airstrikes on July 27, 2024 that used both GBU-39 bombs and MK-80 series bombs equipped with JDAM kits. Satellite imagery before and after the strike showed significant damage to the facility.
Video from the ground provided more detail, showing that the first round of airstrikes targeted five different areas of the school complex.
The unexploded bomb body of a GBU-39 was found inside the school, while the fuzewell from a GBU-39 bomb that exploded was photographed near the destroyed gate structure.
An evacuation notice was then reportedly issued, and two buildings on the eastern side of the complex were targeted with larger bombs, leveling the buildings there. An additional evacuation notice was reportedly issued before a third strike.
A video of the third strike shows at least six people, including a child, visible within approximately 55 meters of where a bomb equipped with a US-made JDAM kit hit one of the already collapsed buildings on the eastern side of the complex.
These three strikes killed at least 30 people, including 15 children and eight women, according to reports collated by Airwars. At least 100 were injured, according to the same reports. Most people were reportedly harmed in the initial strikes, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The United Nations reported at the end of February 2025 that 403 of 564 school buildings in Gaza had been “directly hit” in some manner, either by airstrikes or by other munitions. School buildings are often used as shelters. However, Israel has claimed in some instances that they were being used as Hamas command centres.
After the war resumed in March 2025, recorded strikes on schools generally appeared to use Israeli-made munitions. Only two strikes on schools since then were found to have used US made munitions – a May 2025 attack on the Fahmy Al Jarjawi school with at least three US-made GBU-39 bombs that killed 36 people, according to hospitals in Gaza, and a July 2025 strike on Cairo Basic School where five people were reported killed and where remnants of a Hellfire missile was found.
While the dataset shows no other attacks on schools using US munitions after this period, it is important to note that there may have been other instances where US-made munitions were used in such circumstances but which were not recorded.
Strikes on Healthcare Facilities
Two strikes using US-made munitions to directly target medical facilities were identified in this analysis. A Hellfire missile was used in a June 2024 strike on a health clinic in Gaza City that killed Hani al-Jafarawi, the director of ambulance and emergency services in Gaza. However, the IDF claimed the strike had killed “the terrorist Muhammad Salah, who was responsible for projects and development in Hamas’ Weapons Manufacturing Headquarters”.
The Gaza Civil Defence Headquarters in Al Daraj, Gaza City, was also targeted with a US-made GBU-39 bomb in September 2024. The bomb penetrated multiple floors but failed to explode, causing injuries but no deaths.
Five instances of US-made munitions being used for strikes near medical facilities were also identified. Four of these strikes used Hellfire missiles to target tents within approximately 150 meters of the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital Main Complex in Deir Al Balah.
The fifth strike used a US JDAM likely attached to a MK-82 500-pound bomb to target the Al Aqsa Mosque across the street from the hospital, approximately 50 meters away from the main hospital complex. This strike killed 26 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
A US Marine Corps manual on Close Air Support states that a MK-82 bomb delivered within 425 meters is considered “danger close”, with a bomb delivered within 250 meters being 100 times more dangerous than the minimum “danger close” standard.
Evacuation Strike Notices
Twenty-six strikes were identified where US munitions were used to target buildings including homes, schools and mosques after an evacuation notice was issued by the IDF. In 23 of these strikes there was no reported harm. However, there was significant harm recorded in others even with evacuation notices.
Evacuation notices are notifications that provide advance warning of strikes and can be made on social media or sent to people’s phones. These notices often provide journalists on the ground time to set up cameras to record the incoming strikes. Such videos are occasionally of high enough quality to identify the bomb guidance kit attached as JDAMs kit as they fall, as can be seen in the video below.
لحظة قصف مسجد الألباني في مدينة خانيونس بصاروخين من طيران الحربي .
The moment the Al-Albani Mosque in Khan Younis
was bombed with two missiles by warplanes.
: Abdallah Alattar / Anadoluimages
1 أغسطس 2025 pic.twitter.com/U3Tad0veA6— عبدالله العطار abdallah alattar (@abdallahatar) August 1, 2025
By Sept. 17, 2025 Israel said it had destroyed 25 high-rise buildings in preparation for their assault on Gaza City. Bellingcat was able to identify that at least seven high-rise buildings in Gaza City, including Al Soussi Tower, Al Roya Tower, and Al Roya 2 Tower, were issued evacuation notices then destroyed using MK-80 series bombs with JDAM kits.
The Aybaki Mosque, built in the 13th century, was also hit with MK-80 series bombs with JDAM kit, which the IDF told Bellingcat was a strike targeting the “deputy commander of heavy machine guns unit in Hamas, Khaled Nabil Saleh Shabat”. The IDF has claimed that these tall buildings host Hamas infrastructure, including observation posts and prepared attack positions.
The public warnings posted by the IDF for buildings targeted in Gaza City in September 2025 alerted residents of specific blocks, as well as those in the target building and adjacent tents to leave and head south towards the IDF declared humanitarian zone.
Prior to strikes in Lebanon where the IDF issued evacuation notices, maps were publicly posted requesting civilians evacuate at least 500 meters away. However, a review of public posts by the IDF for evacuation notices in Gaza from September 2025 found no notices that provide a specific evacuation distance.
Bellingcat asked the IDF if the content of evacuation notices sent to people’s phones differ in content from those publicly posted and why evacuation notices in Gaza appeared to not provide a recommended evacuation distance like those issued by the IDF in Lebanon. The IDF told Bellingcat that they issue “clear and detailed advance warnings through multiple channels, including communications published by the IDF Arabic Spokesperson and enables the civilian population to evacuate before strike.”
The distance people are told to evacuate prior to strikes is important as fragments from bombs, or the buildings being targeted, can still kill or injure people hundreds of meters away.
In one strike where an evacuation notice was given before the strike, a four-year-old girl, Razan Hamdiye, was reported killed. One person was also reported killed in the strike on the AlRoya tower.
After the airstrike targeting the Harmony Tower, a graphic video captured by the Anadolu Agency showed a group of people about 120 meters away had been either killed or injured by the strike, despite the evacuation notice.
US-made munitions have also been used in other IDF strikes, including one which reportedly killed the leader of Hamas’ Military Wing, Mohammed Deif. At least 90 people were reported killed in this attack and US-made JDAM remnants recovered. US munitions were also used in the September 2025 strike that reportedly killed Hamas Spokesman, “Abu Obayda” and at least six other people, where remnants of US-made GBU-39 bombs were found.
American-made munitions were also used alongside other unidentified munitions in the June 2024 IDF hostage rescue operation in Nuseirat, where 274 people were reportedly killed. These 274 deaths are not included in the 744 people reported killed in the incidents contained within the dataset due to the inability to identify the other weapons used in at least 13 strikes that occurred during the operation.
Bellingcat reached out to the IDF, the US Department of State, and the US Department of Defense before publishing this story. Bellingcat also asked the primary contractors for these munitions, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, about whether they track how their products are used in Gaza.
Boeing, which manufactures the GBU-39 bomb and JDAM bomb guidance kit did not respond. Neither did Lockheed Martin, which makes the AGM-114 “Hellfire” missile.
The Department of Defense declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the US Department of State said “The US Government is not able to make such determinations” when asked how many civilian deaths could be attributed to the use of US-made weapons in Gaza.
Bellingcat asked if the State Department held a different assessment than the NSM-20 which was introduced under President Biden and determined that it was reasonable to assess that US-made weapons were used by Israel in instances “inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm”. The spokesperson said “NSM-20 is no longer US policy.”
The State Department referred other questions about the use of the munitions highlighted in this article to the Israeli Defence Forces, who told Bellingcat that they do not detail the munitions they employ and that Hamas exploits “civilian infrastructure for terrorist purposes”.
Jake Godin and Carlos Gonzales contributed to this report.
Afton Briones, a member of Bellingcat’s Volunteer Community, contributed research to this piece.
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The post Made in the USA: How American-Built Weapons Have Wrought Destruction in Gaza appeared first on bellingcat.
