The US asked Israel to attack Gaza with smaller bombs

US officials have privately proposed “concrete steps” to Israeli authorities to reduce the casualties of the Gaza attacks, including using smaller bombs, the New York Times reported, citing sources. This is stated in the RIA Novosti material.

Washington reportedly asked the Israelis to “take a more measured approach in their operations.”

Israel was also asked to collect “more intelligence on Hamas command and control networks” before the bombing, as well as to use its ground forces to separate civilian areas from militant areas.

Earlier, Politico reported that representatives of the US Democratic Party in Congress are considering options to “punish” Israel in case it continues to carry out destructive attacks on Gaza. It is noted that earlier the US presidential administration demanded that Tel Aviv explain the reasons for the attack on the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp. Politico’s source said that “punishment” measures for Israel are already being discussed, including “human rights checks.” He noted that there are “special mechanisms” for this. The congressman also recalled the “Leakey Law” existing in the United States, which prohibits the American government from supporting states that violate human rights.

Politico previously reported that Biden administration officials this week demanded an explanation from the Israeli military over the strike on the Jabaliya refugee camp, which left scores of Gazans injured. As reported, at least 195 people were killed in that strike, and 777 were injured. Israel called the incident a “tragedy of war.” At the same time, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that the strike on Jabaliya could amount to a war crime.

According to Chris Cobb-Smith, a former UN weapons inspector, the attack on the Jabaliya camp was most likely carried out by an American bomb. “The ammunition is almost certainly a JDAM, either a GBU 31 general purpose bomb (Mark 84 warhead) or possibly a GBU 56 bunker buster (BLU 109 warhead). Both weigh about 2,000 pounds. [900 кг]”, – he said. GBU (guided bomb unit) is a precision air-to-surface weapon system. It is part of the Israeli arsenal provided by the US and also produced by Israel under contract.