88 More Palestinians Blown Up By Israel as U.S.-Backed Genocide in Gaza Picks Up Pace
Biden administration just announced it will provide Israel with more 500-pound bombs
At least 88 Palestinians were killed and another 289 injured in the latest Israeli attack on a camp filled with displaced people in Gaza — raising the death toll in what has been a particularly brutal week.
Nabil Walid, who lives in Khan Younis, told Middle East Eye that an IDF missile “hit the Ajrar gas complex, which led to an explosion, while another struck a water desalination plant.”
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“Horrors. About six [U.S.-provided] F-16 planes dropped bombs down on us in Nasser road, around the area of the Sultan water station,” he told the outlet. “First the strikes [hit] the ground, and then on a residential building, and then after all this, the planes didn't leave the area. From 11 a.m. till now, the quadcopters are surrounding the area.”
The report noted that Israel claimed to be targeting a Hamas leader, which the group called nonsense.
“All the martyrs are civilians, and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” one official told the outlet.
Israeli Army Radio announced that the IDF had been targeting Hamas' military chief in a strike on Khan Younis, Reuters reported.
The U.S. announced last week that it will resume shipments of 500-pound bombs to Israel after a pause over the casualty count in Gaza that continues to skyrocket.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel sent a ship to Charleston, S.C., in May to pick up a shipment of 500 and 2,000-pound bombs. But the Biden administration announced at the time that it would hold up the shipment, which drew an immediate rebuke from pro-Israel members of Congress.
The Biden administration withheld the weapons in an effort to dissuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from invading Rafah, which he did anyway.
Israel has killed at least 38,000 Palestinians since the war broke out in October. The U.S. said it was still withholding the 2,000-pound bombs.
“Our main concern had been and remains the potential use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza. Because our concern was not about 500-pound bombs, those are moving forward as part of the usual process,” a U.S. official told the paper.