File photo: US BLU-109 bunker buster bomb

By Song Bo

Amidst the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Israeli military launched another severe onslaught against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to recent Russian media reports, the labyrinth of tunnels in Gaza has become one of the most difficult obstacles to deal with for the Israeli side, and that's why the US has provided Israel with a large number of bunker buster bombs.

According to a report anonymously citing a US official, since the outbreak of the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7, the US had provided Israel with about 57,000 artillery shells and 15,000 bombs, including 100 BLU-109 penetrating bombs known as "bunker busters", to help the Israeli military expel Hamas from Gaza.

According to Chinese military observer Shao Yongling, the BLU-109 is essentially a 2,000-pound (about 907 kg) aviation bomb containing 530 pounds (about 240 kg) of high explosives. Featuring a very thick steel shell and delay fuse, this type of bomb can penetrate deep underground before detonating, mainly used to destroy reinforced underground facilities, tunnels, and shelters. Thus, it's also known as "bunker buster". Both F-35A and F-15 aircraft of Israeli military can drop such bombs. A BLU-109 bomb can penetrate 12 to 30 meters deep into ordinary soils, and 1.5 to 2.4 meters reinforced concrete structures.

Shao indicated that it remains to be observed whether the ammunition supplied to Israel by the US will be effective in destroying Hamas tunnels, but Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip will inevitably cause bloodier humanitarian catastrophes in this densely populated area. Even Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin exhorted Israel a few days ago that civilian protection is the key to victory for street battles, and that forcing civilians into the arms of the enemy will lead to strategic failure rather than tactical success.

At present, Israel has caused massive humanitarian disasters in Gaza. If Israel continues to press ahead with its military power regardless of civilian casualties, it would breed animosity in Gaza and bolster support for Hamas among the local population.

Shao Yongling further pointed out that on the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the US had provided huge military support to Israel due to the domestic political correctness, but hypocritically called on the Israeli side to reduce civilian casualties under the pressure of international public opinion. These actions of hypocrisy are unpopular and will eventually backfire. Many armed factions in the Middle East have transferred their hatred of Israel to the US. According to statistics of the US Department of Defense, the US bases in the Middle East have experienced almost 80 assaults since October 17. In fact, there is widespread discontentment over US' biased support to Israel at the government level, including US' allies. The US is also anxious to see Israel bring an end to the conflict in Gaza. Otherwise, its interests in the entire Arab world will be fundamentally compromised.

Editor's note: Originally published on military.cnr.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.