Depleted uranium is a form of uranium that has been stripped of most – but not all – of its radioactive matter. It was derived from the process used to prepare uranium for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.

During the strikes that killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, as well as 33 civilians, Israel used a type of bomb known as “bunker busters”.

Though Israel did not confirm what munitions it has used in Lebanon, the New York Times reported that the air force squadron used for the Nasrallah bombing were equipped with BLU-109 missiles, citing an Israeli army video. These missiles are known to contain explosives coated in depleted uranium.

According to studies of the effects of depleted uranium used by the US in Iraq in 2003, it has been implicated in sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases and other illnesses. During the Iraq war, the US dropped 24 bunker buster munitions containing depleted uranium, while Israel, in the single one-minute-long attack that killed Nasrallah, dropped nearly double that amount.

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