A brief history of the 2,000-pound Mark 80 bombs central to U.S.-Israeli tensions
Joe Biden threatened to pause some weapons shipments to Israel if it invaded the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, the devastating effects of one weapon were of particular concern to him.
«Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs,» Biden said in remarks to CNN this past week.
He was referring to U.S.-made 2,000-pound aerial weapons, the largest in the Pentagon's Mark 80 series of bombs.
In the military's banal lexicon, the Mark 80s are «general purpose» bombs, meaning that they can be used on almost any target the military typically expects to encounter in war. In addition to the 2,000-pound Mk-84, they also come in 250-pound, 500-pound and 1,000-pound versions — the Mk-81, Mk-82 and Mk-83.
The president has already delayed a shipment to Israel of 3,500 bombs in the Mark 80 series that he feared could be used in a major assault on Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
Why the US paused weapons shipment to Israel amid Gaza conflict
A New York Times investigation in December found that American 2,000-pound bombs were responsible for some of the worst attacks on Palestinian civilians since the war in Gaza began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
According to a U.S. Army office that manages ammunition for the Pentagon, the ideal targets for weapons of that size are «buildings, rail yards and lines of communication.»
However, Defense Department data indicates that U.S. warplanes typically use far less powerful munitions for supporting
