Direct proof of use
Le Monde's visual investigation of footage from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City identified a spent 155 mm illumination-shell body after an impact on the evening of November 9, 2023. The investigation reported that the fragment's features matched an Israeli army M485 A2 illuminating shell previously photographed in Gaza, and it attributed the shell to Israeli forces after analyzing the trajectory, nearby Israeli artillery context, and Palestinian armed-group arsenals.
The documented event was use rather than mere possession or transfer: the footage showed a projectile crossing the night sky and an impact near people sheltering in the hospital courtyard, followed by the shell body being filmed on the ground.
Sources: Le Monde Al-Shifa shelling investigation
Timeline
On November 8, 2023, Le Monde reported that flares had been filmed from the Al-Shifa Hospital compound one day before the documented shell impact. On November 9, available video showed a projectile descending over the hospital area and a spent 155 mm illumination-shell body at the scene after the impact.
On November 16, 2023, Le Monde published its investigation identifying the remnant as matching an Israeli M485 A2 illumination shell. The same article placed the hospital within the possible firing radius of Israeli 155 mm howitzers outside or around Gaza and noted that Reuters imagery from October 17 had shown Israeli M109 howitzers and lined-up shells near the Gaza border.
Sources: Le Monde Al-Shifa shelling investigation
Narrative
The M485-series projectile is a visible-light 155 mm illumination round. The U.S. Army portfolio describes the M485 as a projectile used to illuminate the battlefield at night or in reduced visibility; after fuze functioning, its canister ejects and a parachute-suspended candle burns for at least 100 seconds with about 1,000,000 candlepower.
In the Gaza incident documented by Le Monde, the projectile's role was battlefield illumination around an active combat area rather than an explosive attack munition. Le Monde quoted a weapons expert saying the shell body could still seriously injure or kill someone at its point of impact, while the round was not designed to create major blast damage.
The surrounding Al-Shifa fighting context was broader than this single munition. MSF's later timeline reported shelling at Al-Shifa on November 10 while patients and staff remained trapped inside, and Israeli ground troops entered the hospital on November 15. Those reports support the hospital-area combat context but do not independently identify the M485-series projectile.
Sources: JPEO Ammunition Portfolio Book, Le Monde Al-Shifa shelling investigation, MSF Attacks on Healthcare Timeline
