Israel’s Gaza bombing campaign is proving costly, for Israel
The first response by Israel to the Hamas attacks of October 7 was to send in the air force to bomb Gaza. The air force was given a long list of potential targets, related to the attacks or not. The logic was to show to Israelis and Palestinians alike that Israel was not down but could muster a quick, resolute and brutal response.
Israel initially released reports of the number of air strikes it was conducting, but probably realising that admitting having bombed Gaza thousands of times was bad public relations, it switched instead to reporting the number of “targets” it was hitting. The last figure was released about a week ago claiming 12,000 targets attacked. Without the specifics of how they were hit and with what means, the number doesn’t say much.
But a lot can be deduced from the total number of bombs used. This week, Palestinian officials reported that 18,000 tonnes of bombs have been dropped on Gaza. The destruction on the ground is consistent with this figure.
Almost all bombs dropped belong to the United States-designed Mk80 family, which has been in service since the Vietnam War. Originally designed as conventional free-fall weapons or “dumb bombs”, they have been constantly modernised with sophisticated targeting devices that have converted them into “smart bombs”. These bombs are made in various sizes, classified by total weight of the weapon: 120kg (265lb), 250kg (551lb), 500kg (1,102lb)and 1,000kg (2,204lb).
