Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate | Israel-Palestine conflict
Gaza Conflict Leaves Families Searching for Missing Loved Ones
GAZA CITY — At dawn on August 10, Yasmin Mahani searched the smoking remnants of the al-Tabin school in Gaza City for her son, Saad. Instead, she found her husband in distress, while Saad remained unaccounted for.
“I walked into the mosque and saw nothing but flesh and blood,” Mahani recalled in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic. Days of searching hospitals and morgues yielded no trace of her son. “We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”
Mahani’s ordeal reflects the plight of thousands of Palestinians whose loved ones have gone missing amid the ongoing conflict, which has claimed over 72,000 lives since fighting escalated in October 2023.
An investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic, titled “The Rest of the Story,” indicates that Civil Defence teams in Gaza have recorded 2,842 cases of individuals who “evaporated” during the conflict, with little left behind except blood or small tissue fragments.
Experts attribute these disappearances to Israel’s use of thermal and thermobaric weapons, which can generate temperatures surpassing 3,500 degrees Celsius (6,332 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Chemistry of Erasure
The investigation highlights how specific chemical compositions in these munitions can reduce human bodies to ash within seconds. Vasily Fatigarov, a Russian military expert, explained that thermobaric weapons not only kill, but also obliterate physical matter. Unlike conventional explosives, thermobaric devices disperse a cloud of fuel before igniting it to create a massive fireball and a vacuum effect.
“To prolong the burning time, powders of aluminum, magnesium, and titanium are added to the mixture,” Fatigarov noted. “This raises the explosion temperature to between 2,500 and 3,000 degrees Celsius (4,532°F to 5,432°F).”
The intense heat is generated by tritonal, a mixture of TNT and aluminum powder often found in U.S.-manufactured bombs, such as the MK-84.
Dr. Munir al-Bursh, the director general of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, discussed the biological consequences of such extreme temperatures on the human body, composed largely of water.
“The boiling point of water is 100 degrees Celsius (212°F),” al-Bursh said. “When exposed to energy exceeding 3,000 degrees, combined with massive pressure, fluids vaporize and tissues turn to ash. It is chemically inevitable.”
Anatomy of the Bombs
The investigation identifies specific U.S.-manufactured munitions used in Gaza linked to these cases of disappearance:
- MK-84 ‘Hammer’: This 900 kg (2,000 lb) unguided bomb can generate heat up to 3,500 degrees Celsius (6,332°F).
- BLU-109 Bunker Buster: Used in a September 2024 attack in al-Mawasi, deemed a “safe zone” for displaced Palestinians, this bomb reportedly evaporated 22 people within its steel casing and delayed fuse.
- GBU-39: This precision glide bomb, employed in the al-Tabin school attack, utilizes the AFX-757 explosive. It aims to preserve building structures while devastating everything inside using pressure waves and intense thermal effects.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defence, confirmed the presence of GBU-39 remnants at sites where bodies vanished. “We go to a house knowing five people were inside,” Basal said. “We find three bodies. Two have simply disappeared, often leaving only blood stains.”
Implications of Indiscriminate Weapons
Legal experts assert that the use of such indiscriminate weapons implicates not only Israel but also its Western allies. “This is a global genocide, not just an Israeli one,” said Diana Buttu, a law lecturer at Georgetown University in Qatar.
Speaking at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Buttu pointed to the continuous flow of arms from the U.S. and Europe, despite awareness of their lethal impact on noncombatants. “These weapons do not distinguish between a fighter and a child,” she noted.
Buttu emphasized that under international law, utilizing weapons that cannot differentiate between combatants and noncombatants constitutes a war crime.
Ongoing Crisis and the Justice System’s Response
Despite the International Court of Justice ordering Israel to prevent acts of genocide in January 2024 and an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued later that year, violence has continued unabated.
Tariq Shandab, a professor of international law, criticized the international justice system for failing to address the ongoing crisis in Gaza. “Since the ceasefire agreement in October, over 600 Palestinians have been killed,” he noted, stressing that the blockade of humanitarian aid also constitutes a crime against humanity.
Shandab pointed out the optional avenues for accountability through universal jurisdiction in countries like Germany and France, if political will exists.
For individuals like Rafiq Badran, who lost four children during the conflict, these legal arguments hold little meaning. “Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, struggling to contain his grief. “Where did they go?”
