US-made thermal bombs 'vaporized' thousands of Palestinians in Gaza: Report

Thousands of Palestinians have been “evaporated” by internationally banned thermal and thermobaric munitions provided by the US and used by Israeli forces throughout the brutal aggression across the besieged Gaza Strip, an investigative report says.

The investigation, conducted by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Arabic network, found that about 3,000 Palestinians disappeared as a result of such weapons, with many leaving behind no remains other than blood spray or small fragments of flesh.

The investigation detailed how specific chemical compositions in Israeli munitions turn human bodies into ash in seconds.

Experts and witnesses attributed this phenomenon to Israel’s systematic use of internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, capable of generating temperatures exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius.

Civil Defense teams in Gaza have documented 2,842 Palestinians who have “evaporated” since the Israeli war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told media outlets that rescue teams used a “method of elimination” at the sites of certain Israeli attacks.

“We enter a targeted home and cross-reference the known number of occupants with the bodies recovered,” Basal said.

“If a family tells us there were five people inside, and we only recover three intact bodies, we treat the remaining two as ‘evaporated’ only after an exhaustive search yields nothing but biological traces—blood spray on walls or small fragments like scalps,” he added.

A September 2024 attack on southern Gaza resulted in the evaporation of about two dozen Palestinians.

Also at dawn on August 10, 2024, Yasmin Mahani walked through the smoking ruins of al-Tabin school in Gaza City, searching for her son, Saad.

She found her husband screaming, but of Saad, there was no trace. “I went into the mosque and found myself stepping on flesh and blood,” Mahani said. She searched hospitals and morgues for days.

“We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”

Mahani is one of thousands of Palestinians whose loved ones have simply vanished during Israel’s brutal war on the blockaded territory.

The report explains how human bodies can turn into ash within seconds of an attack carried out with such bombs, as a result of specific chemical compositions.

Vasily Fatigarov, a Russian military expert, explained that thermobaric weapons do not just kill; they obliterate matter.

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Unlike conventional explosives, these weapons disperse a cloud of fuel that ignites to create an enormous fireball and a vacuum effect.

Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, explained the biological impact of such extreme heat on the human body, which is composed of roughly 80 percent water.

“The boiling point of water is 100 degrees Celsius,” al-Bursh said.

“When a body is exposed to energy exceeding 3,000 degrees combined with massive pressure and oxidation, the fluids boil instantly. The tissues vaporise and turn to ash. It is chemically inevitable.”

In late April 2024, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med) called for an immediate investigation into Israel’s use of illegal thermal weapons, which it said were turning Palestinians into ash.

These US-made munitions have also been used by Israel in Lebanon, including in an August 2024 strike on Nabatieh’s Mayfadoun, in the country’s south.

Israel has also been accused of using depleted uranium against Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.

The developments come as the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights said in a recent report that the death toll from Israel’s genocide in Gaza may have exceeded 200,000, citing new figures showing a population decline of more than 10 percent since October 2023.

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