Israelis killed by Palestinian rockets

Palestinian "airstrike" weaponry
and Israeli airstrike weaponry

Like the death toll, the firepower on the two sides of this conflict is vastly uneven. Here, we'll examine some of the weaponry used by each side. First we will look at Palestinian weapons and below that Israeli weapons.

Palestinian weaponry

Palestine has no aircraft of any kind, therefore its "airstrikes" actually consist of various types of land-based weapons:

Qassam Rockets

The Qassam series of home made rockets are designed and manufactured in the Gaza Strip. According to Wikipedia:

The rocket consists of a steel cylinder, containing a rectangular block of the propellant. A steel plate which forms and supports the nozzles is then spot-welded to the base of the cylinder. The warhead consists of a simple metal shell surrounding the explosives, and is triggered by a fuse constructed using a simple firearm cartridge, a spring and a nail.

Simple metal A-frames used to launch Qassam rockets (Wikimedia Commons)

This rudimentary design is propelled by a mixture of sugar and amonium nitrate (common fertilizer), launched from a simple metal frame, and has no guidance system, making it highly inaccurate.

BM-21 Grad

Another unguided rocket used in Palestine is the BM-21 Grad. Produced in China and Iran, this Soviet designed weapon has a farther range than the Qassam and is often fired from the back of a truck.

Member of Al-Quds Brigade carrying Grad missile (PalToday)

9M133 Kornet

The most sophisticated weapon Hamas has used against their Israeli occupiers is the Russian made Kornet laser guided anti-tank missile. The number of these in Hamas's possesion is unknown but to date they are only responsible for two Israeli deaths.

A Russian soldier fires a Kornet missile, 2017 (Wikimedia Commons)

Other rockets

According to the Israeli Military, Hamas has used various other types of missiles including the home made M-75 and Al Quds rockets as well as the Chinese M-302 and the Iranian Fajr-5. Although some of these weapons reportedly have longer ranges and larger warheads than the BM-21 Grad, there has not been a single incidence where one of these rockets fired from the occupied territories has caused an Israeli death.

Mortars

Hamas rebels fire a mortar shell in Gaza (Reuters)

Aside from self propelled rockets, Palestinian rebels have fired morters at Israeli military personnel. Mortars can be easily carried by one person and consist of an explosive shell launched from a short metal tube. According to B'Tselem, Palestinian mortars have killed 20 Israelis including 13 soldiers. See the table below for details.

Balloons & Kites

Masked Palestinians prepare to attach a gas canister to a bunch of balloons on Feb. 10 before releasing them along the Israel-Gaza border fence. (Getty Images)

Beginning in 2018, some Gaza groups in desperation began using incendiary balloons and kites. As of March 26, 2020 these have caused no deaths or injuries.

Israeli airstrikes

Israel often launches airstrikes on Gaza that destroy residential neighborhoods, hospitals, churches, mosques, day care centers, historical sites, and more. Thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children have lost their lives in these attacks.

While Palestinian rebels attempt to retaliate against these attacks by launching primitive, home made rockets, the Israeli military is firing sophisticated, laser guided bombs and missiles from US made fighter jets and attack helicopters.

Fighter jets from the IAF's second F-35 squadron, the Lions of the South, fly over southern Israel (Times of Israel)

Modified Israeli F-15Ds known as F-15 Baz (Breaking Defense)

Israeli F-16I "Sufa" in flight (Wikimedia Commons)

Israeli Air Force Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter, June 8, 2012 (Ofer Zidon/Flash90)

Below are just a few of the many types of bombs and missiles used by Israeli forces against their much more poorly equipped neighbors.

AGM-114 Hellfire self guided air-to-surface missile developed by Lockhead Martine (Israeli Firepower Ltd.)

Israeli manufacterer Rafael Systems' Gil 2 antitank missile (Rafael Systems)

Israeli F-16 with BLU-109 forged steel point tip, and a BLU109 JDAM, 2000lb bunker buster penetration bomb (Wikimedia Commons)

Designed by Rockwell International, the GBU 15 (Guided Bomb Unit) is an unpowered, glide weapon used to destroy high-value enemy targets. (Wikimedia Commons)

US designed GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb (Wikimedia Commons)

The GBU-28 is a 5,000-pound (2,268 kg) laser-guided "bunker busting" bomb manufactured by Raytheon(Wikimedia Commons)

In addition to these, Israel also employs a number of unmanned aerial drones. Among these are what are known as "loitering munitions", drones which circle in a given vicinity for some time until they aquire a target and attack.

The IAI Harpy is an expendable, unmanned autonomous aircraft produced by Israel Aerospace Industries. It is designed to attack radar systems and carries a high explosive warhead. (The Drive/IAI)

Iron Dome

An anti-rocket defense system was put in place in Israel in April 2011. A collaboration between Israel's Raphael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Raytheon, it's purpose is to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells before they can reach populated areas of Israel.

Iron Dome missile test (Israeli Defense Ministry)

The United States initially contributed $1.3 billion to the project, and has since given several hundred million more. Despite this, after purchasing two Iron Dome batteries from Raphael for use at home, US Army officials requested the source code and were denied.

While Israel touts the project as an ironclad success, others raise questions about its effectiveness.

Damage caused by Palestinian and Israeli weaponry

This huge disparity in weapon technology leads to a predictable difference in the damage caused by their use. While Israelis have to deal with the occasional pothole or minor structural damage, it's not uncommon for Palestinians to see an entire neighborhood wiped out in a single attack.

Israeli citizen inspects hole left by Palestinian rocket - Ashdod, Israel 2014 (JTA)

Crowd inspects blast crater made by an Israeli missile - Gaza, 2008 (WSJ)

Damage caused by rockets fired from Gaza - Sderot, Israel, 2014 (Algemeiner)

Aftermath of Israeli missile strike - Rafah, Gaza, 2020 (Times of Israel)

Police officer examines burn marks from Gazan rocket - Sderot, Israel, 2016 (Times of Israel)

Palestinian children stand beside a crater created by an Israeli airstrike - Khan Yunis, Gaza, 2019 (France 24)

Rocket hole in the wall of a house - Sderot, Israel (built over the Palestinian villages of Huj and Najd) (NYT)

Apartment building destroyed in Israeli airstrike - Gaza City, 2014 (CNN)

Damage to a roof hit by a Gazan rocket - Negev, Israel, 2012 (JNS)

Neighborhood destroyed by Israeli weaponry - Shejaiya, Gaza, 2014 (The Telegraph)

Car totalled after rocket fired from Gaza strikes carport - Ashdod, Israel, 2014 (Times of Israel)

Car unrecognizable after Israelii airstrike - Khan Yunis, Gaza, 2018 (Haaretz)

House badly damaged by Gazan rocket - Kfar Saba, Israel, 2019 (YNET)

Neighborhood annihilated by Israeli airstrike - Shuja'iyya, Gaza City, 2014 (NBC)

Israelis killed by Palestinian mortars

For a list of deaths from all types of weaponry, see our Israel Palestine Timeline website.

This page is a work in progress. We will continue to add more information as time permits.

Update 04/30/2020: We discovered that we had misinterpreted some B'Tselem statistics and have corrected the number of Palestinians killed to "over" 4,000. Please note, this figure does not include Palestinian deaths from Israeli shoulder-fired or surface-to-surface missiles. Had we included those deaths, the number would be several hundred more. Back to top

Last updated: 6/20/2020