At the end of January 2025, the American website "Axios" revealed, citing three senior Israeli officials, that the American president Donald Trump had decided to lift the ban imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden on the supply of 2,000-pound heavy bombs to Israel.
According to the reports, approximately 1 Mark 800 bombs, stored in US military warehouses, were loaded onto a military transport ship bound for the Israeli coast.
By mid-February, this decision was no longer a secret. The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed receipt of the shipment, and Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz declared the bombs "a major strategic asset."
Mark 84: A Weapon of Mass Destruction
This event is just one in a long series. Between 2023 and 2025, as Israel carried out intensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, American weapons were omnipresent, and the Mark 84 bombs were among the most widely used.
The scale of their use is such that it cannot be ignored, constituting flagrant proof of repeated violations of international humanitarian law by Israel, notably through the targeting of civilians and vital infrastructure.
In October 2024, a detailed study revealed that between October 7 and November 17, 2023, the Israeli military dropped at least 600 Mark 84 bombs, each weighing 2 pounds (about 000 kg), on densely populated areas, including hospitals.
The researchers concluded that Israel adopted a systematic pattern of dropping these bombs near hospitals at a distance calculated to maximize damage and cause a high number of casualties.
The Mark 84 is the most powerful of the American Mark 80 bomb family, designed to be versatile and capable of destroying massive structures. When detonated, it can flatten buildings, dig craters 11 meters deep and 20 meters wide, and generate destructive shock waves over a wide area.
Despite its power, it is referred to as a "dumb bomb" because it lacks any intelligent guidance system, falling in free fall according to the laws of gravity. This lack of precision significantly increases the risk of collateral damage, especially when dropped from high altitudes.
A US intelligence report revealed that half of the bombs dropped by Israel on Gaza were of this type, despite the territory's extreme population density, suggesting a deliberate attempt to target civilians.
JDAM: Transforming bombs into smart weapons
Along with unguided bombs, Israel also uses precision munitions known as Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). These are not bombs per se, but electronic systems added to conventional bombs to make them precision weapons.
Thanks to a GPS and inertial navigation system, these bombs can be guided with a margin of error of only 5 to 10 meters. Developed after the Gulf War in response to the limitations of conventional bombs, this technology revolutionized precision bombing.
However, despite their accuracy, the use of JDAM bombs in densely populated urban areas, such as Gaza, makes them weapons just as deadly as unguided bombs.
SPICE: The ultra-precise Israeli bomb
Israel also uses another advanced guidance system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, called SPICE. Like JDAM, it is designed to transform conventional bombs, such as the Mark 84, into smart weapons with an accuracy of less than 3 meters.
The system relies on an electro-optical camera and image recognition software, which allows the bomb to hit its target even in the absence of a GPS signal.
In July 2024, a two-ton SPICE 2000 bomb was dropped on a refugee camp in Khan Younis, killing at least 90 people and injuring hundreds more. This event drew intense international criticism, especially since the attack targeted a "safe zone" designated by the Israeli military itself.
Despite its apparent accuracy, the use of this bomb in civilian areas calls into question any ethical or legal claims, since its destructive effect far exceeds its initial objective.
Penetrating Bombs: A Strategy for Underground Destruction
In addition to these aerial bombs, Israel also uses penetrator bombs designed to destroy underground infrastructure, including tunnels used by the Palestinian resistance.
These bombs, like the GBU-28, can penetrate up to 30 meters of earth or 6 meters of concrete before exploding. Some are equipped with delayed explosive charges that maximize impact by detonating within buried structures.
A particularly destructive tactic employed by the Israeli military is "tiling," which involves massively bombing an area suspected of containing tunnels, without any specific confirmation of their presence. This method results in the complete destruction of entire neighborhoods and numerous civilian casualties.
An arsenal of war in the service of destruction
Israel primarily uses two types of fighter jets to drop these bombs: the F-15 and the F-16, both manufactured in the United States. The F-15 is designed for air superiority and can carry a massive weapons load, while the F-16 is more agile and better suited for targeted strikes.
The intensive use of these technologies in the war on Gaza illustrates a military strategy aimed at inflicting maximum destruction with increasingly sophisticated weapons. Despite the claimed accuracy of some of these bombs, their use in densely populated areas transforms each attack into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Ultimately, the distinction between "smart" and "dumb" bombs blurs in the face of a brutal reality: all these weapons are used indiscriminately in a territory where civilians have nowhere to flee.
