Direct proof of use
The clearest early evidence is transfer evidence. On December 2, 2023, Al Jazeera summarized Wall Street Journal reporting that cited unnamed U.S. officials and said Washington had transferred 100 BLU-109 2,000-pound bombs to Israel for the war in Gaza. The same report described the BLU-109 as a ground-penetrating bomb meant to penetrate hardened structures before exploding.
A later Al Jazeera investigation published on February 10, 2026 identified the BLU-109 bunker-buster as one of several U.S.-manufactured munitions used in Gaza and stated that it was used in a September 2024 attack on al-Mawasi. That source directly supports reported battlefield use of the BLU-109 in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, while the December 2023 source supports transfer to Israel during the conflict.
Sources: Al Jazeera BLU-109 Transfer Report, Al Jazeera Gaza Weapons Investigation
Timeline
The public record places the BLU-109 in the conflict first as a reported U.S. transfer after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack and then as a reported strike munition in Gaza in 2024. The exact arrival dates and expenditure history of the 100 reported BLU-109 bombs were not publicly detailed in the cited transfer reporting.
Open reporting on the July 2024 al-Mawasi strike provides related but less conclusive evidence for this entry. AFP reporting republished by Al-Monitor said weapons experts identified a U.S.-made JDAM tail fin fragment from the strike and that the fragment could be compatible with the BLU-109, but the report did not independently verify the video and did not identify the bomb body with certainty.
Sources: Al Jazeera BLU-109 Transfer Report, Al Jazeera Gaza Weapons Investigation, Al-Monitor Al-Mawasi JDAM Analysis
Narrative
In this conflict, the BLU-109 was associated with Israeli air operations rather than ground combat. The weapon is a U.S.-origin hard-target bomb body, and U.S. and Israeli procurement material links the BLU-109 to JDAM guidance kits that convert compatible bomb bodies into GPS/INS-guided munitions.
The sources support three separate claims: U.S. supply of BLU-109 bombs to Israel during the war, reported use of a BLU-109 in a September 2024 al-Mawasi attack, and related visual analysis from the July 2024 al-Mawasi strike identifying a JDAM kit fragment that could have fitted a BLU-109-class bomb body. The record does not establish that every Israeli 2,000-pound bomb strike in Gaza used a BLU-109, and it should not be read as proof of a complete Israeli BLU-109 expenditure list.
Sources: DSCA Israel JDAM Guidance Kits, Al Jazeera BLU-109 Transfer Report, Al Jazeera Gaza Weapons Investigation, Al-Monitor Al-Mawasi JDAM Analysis
