Horrific Impact of Israeli Bombs in Gaza
At dawn on August 10, 2024, Yasmin Mahani walked through the smoking ruins of al-Tabin school in Gaza City after Israeli bombs in Gaza reduced the area to rubble. She desperately searched for her son, Saad. Her husband screamed in despair, but Saad had vanished without a trace. “I went into the mosque and found myself stepping on flesh and blood,” she said. Days of searching hospitals and morgues after the Israeli bombs in Gaza revealed nothing. “We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part,” Mahani added.
This is not an isolated tragedy. Thousands of Palestinians have disappeared under the relentless bombardment, turning entire families into ashes. Gaza’s Civil Defence has documented 2,842 cases where individuals have “evaporated,” leaving behind only blood spray or small tissue fragments. Experts attribute these horrors to Israel’s systematic use of prohibited thermobaric weapons, often called vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating heat exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius.
The Deadly Chemistry of Israeli Bombs
Thermobaric weapons are different from conventional bombs. Russian military expert Vasily Fatigarov explained that they disperse a fuel cloud that ignites into an enormous fireball, creating both heat and vacuum. To increase intensity, explosives often include powders of aluminium, magnesium, and titanium. This can raise the temperature to between 2,500 and 3,500 degrees Celsius, instantly vaporizing human tissue.
Dr. Munir al-Bursh, head of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, emphasized the catastrophic effect on human bodies. “The human body is 80 percent water. Exposure to extreme heat, high pressure, and oxidation instantly boils fluids and turns tissues to ash. It is chemically inevitable,” he said.
Specific Weapons Causing Evaporation
Investigations identified several US-made bombs used in Gaza linked to mass disappearances. The MK-84, known as the ‘Hammer,’ is a 2,000-pound bomb with tritonal that can generate temperatures above 3,500C. The BLU-109 bunker buster, used in al-Mawasi, evaporated 22 civilians despite being dropped in an area Israel declared a “safe zone.” The GBU-39 precision glide bomb destroyed people inside al-Tabin school while leaving the building mostly intact, incinerating all inside. Civil Defence teams confirmed finding fragments of bomb parts at sites where bodies had vanished.
A Global Genocide in Plain Sight
Legal experts argue that these attacks implicate more than Israel. Diana Buttu, a Georgetown University lecturer, described it as a “global genocide.” Western suppliers, including the US and Europe, continue sending weapons that cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants. Under international law, the indiscriminate use of such weapons constitutes war crimes, yet accountability remains absent.
Collapse of International Justice
Despite provisional measures from the International Court of Justice and an ICC arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israeli forces intensified the killings in Gaza. Professor Tariq Shandab condemned the international justice system and described Israel’s blockade of food and medicine as crimes against humanity. He stated that United Nations Security Council veto powers actively shield Israel from accountability. Shandab added that courts exercising universal jurisdiction in countries such as Germany and France could pursue justice if governments show political will.
For families like Rafiq Badran, legal arguments offer no comfort. Israeli attacks killed four of his children in the Bureij refugee camp, leaving him with only small fragments to bury. “Four of my children just evaporated. I searched for them a million times. Not a single piece was left. Where did they go?” he said, his voice breaking.
The horrific use of Israeli bombs in Gaza continues to kill innocent civilians, plunge families into unbearable grief, and force an entire population to live in constant fear of being erased.
