100 lives lost: The story behind Israel’s MK-84 bombing of a school in Gaza

Perhaps you’re among those who no longer want to hear bad news. Just in Turkish news, neither the efforts of animal lovers to prevent what is almost a revenge massacre against animals, nor imprisoned lawmaker Can Atalay’s right to parliamentary immunity, nor the imprisonment of Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş, nor the increasing poverty of the public, nor anything about Israel’s massacre in Gaza is something you want to hear. Feeling overwhelmed? Then please, read this; the story of the MK-84 bomb.

On August 10th, Israeli warplanes dropped three bombs on a building in Gaza’s Daraj district. The building belonged to the al-Tebin school. But at that moment, it was a shelter for hundreds of Palestinians whose homes in other areas had been destroyed.

Agencies reported that at least 100 people were killed; it was at dawn prayer time.

Israel used the MK-84 bomb, considered the heaviest bomb that F-16 planes can carry, in the attack.

Condemning the attack as Israel’s “new crime against humanity,” Türkiye also implied the United States when it declared “those who take no steps to stop Israel as complicit”.

Israel has Rights, Palestine does not

Just two days earlier, on August 8th, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s foreign policy advisor, Phil Gordon, who is rumored to be either Secretary of State or National Security Advisor if Harris wins the presidency on November 5th, stated that Harris was against the idea of an arms embargo on Israel. According to this, some Democratic voters wanted this issue to be discussed in a separate meeting, but Harris rejected it, citing the danger from Iran and Israel’s right to self-defense.

Israel had the right to defend itself, but Palestine did not. For Harris, seen as the hope of progressive, secular, and democratic American voters against Donald Trump, the rights of Palestinians under attack were limited to delivering food and “humanitarian aid” to those who survived the bombings.

The Netanyahu government’s use of the MK-84 bomb, rather than another type of bomb, against Palestinians sheltering in a school building was almost like a challenge, saying, “I’ll do what I want; the U.S. has my back.”

This is because on May 10th, President Joe Biden had suspended the U.S. administration’s delivery of the 2000-pound (approximately 907 kg) MK-48 bomb to Israel; he did not want the bomb used in Rafah.

The MK-84 does not discriminate

This is because two days earlier, on May 8th, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had said in a Senate speech that the use of MK-84 bombs in residential areas was problematic, as with its incredible destructive power, it could create a 4.5-meter crater and indiscriminately kill everyone within a 350-meter radius. Instead, they could provide Israel with bombs that had less destructive power but more accuracy.

On the other hand, it was announced that the U.S. had delivered over 10,000 of the 2000-pound MK-84 bombs to Israel before the delivery was suspended, following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th.

The three bombs dropped by Israeli jets on the al-Tebin school on Saturday were among those 10,000-plus bombs.

It was almost as if the Netanyahu government was signaling to the U.S. that it wanted more of these bombs.

After all, new threats had emerged from Iran following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31st. Sending new aircraft carriers to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf and deploying the F-22 fighter jets, the most exclusive aircraft that the U.S. had not even sold to Israel, in the region were not enough.

Even if you don’t want to hear it

The MK-84 is one of the most effective bombs known as “Bunker busters.” It was designed not for school buildings but for military underground bunkers made of reinforced concrete. It is one of the most destructive bombs in Western armies. It was first used by the U.S. in the Vietnam War in the 1970s, later in the Iraq invasion, the Afghanistan war, and against the Houthis in Yemen.

It was most recently used by Israel against a school where Palestinians whose homes had been destroyed were taking refuge.

But even if you don’t want to hear it, evil continues, and if one day, evil comes knocking on your door, you may not even know that no one is left who wants to hear that news.