Direct proof of use
The GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb I is documented in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War through munition-remnant analysis from Gaza and later human-rights investigation of the same strike. The clearest public case is the May 26, 2024 Israeli airstrike on the Kuwaiti Peace Camp in Tal al-Sultan, west Rafah.
CBS News reported that two munitions experts identified photographed shrapnel from the Rafah scene as evidence of a U.S.-made GBU-39. The Associated Press separately verified images of weapon fragments from the camp and reported that defense experts assessed the bombs as likely U.S.-made. The Washington Post reported that four weapons experts identified fragments from the site as an SDB GBU-39.
Amnesty International later investigated the May 26 strike and attributed the two Israeli airstrikes on the camp to two U.S.-made GBU-39 guided bombs. Amnesty said the strikes targeted two Hamas commanders staying among displaced civilians; this record uses that attribution only for user and target context, not for an independent legal judgment.
Sources: CBS Rafah GBU-39 Identification, AP Rafah Bomb Analysis, Washington Post Rafah Fragments, Amnesty Rafah Investigation
Timeline
On May 26, 2024, Israeli aircraft struck the Kuwaiti Peace Camp in Tal al-Sultan during the Rafah phase of the war. Israel said it was targeting Hamas operatives, while international reporting and later investigations documented severe civilian casualties in the camp.
On May 29, 2024, CBS News, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post published separate assessments based on photographed remnants, expert review, and scene imagery. These reports publicly connected the Rafah strike to the GBU-39/SDB family.
On August 26, 2024, Amnesty International published a field investigation that directly named two U.S.-made GBU-39 guided bombs in the May 26 camp strikes and placed the incident in a two-attack Rafah investigation.
Sources: OHCHR Rafah Statement, CBS Rafah GBU-39 Identification, AP Rafah Bomb Analysis, Washington Post Rafah Fragments, Amnesty Rafah Investigation
Role in the conflict
The documented role was air-delivered precision strike. The GBU-39 is a 250-pound class glide bomb with GPS-aided inertial guidance; in the Rafah case, Israeli military statements cited by AP described the munition choice as the smallest jet-launched weapon its aircraft could carry, with about 17 kilograms of explosive material.
Public sources do not identify the launch aircraft for the May 26 Rafah strike. The evidence therefore supports Israeli airstrike use of the GBU-39 in Gaza, but not a specific aircraft type for this incident.
Later investigative reporting by The Guardian, with Disclose and Follow the Money, said open-source information and weapons-expert analysis had verified 24 Gaza cases in which GBU-39 bombs were deployed in attacks with civilian deaths between November 2023 and May 2025. That broader reporting supports repeated wartime use, while the May 26 Rafah case remains the best-source-backed incident for this catalog record.
Sources: Air Force GBU-39 Fact Sheet, AP Rafah Bomb Analysis, Amnesty Rafah Investigation, Guardian GBU-39 Gaza Investigation
