The supply chain is evidence of complicity: Thousands of Palestinians ‘evaporated’ by US-Supplied Thermal and Thermobaric Munitions Israeli weapons in Gaza
Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate
Al Jazeera investigation reveals how US-supplied thermal and thermobaric munitions burning at 3,500C have left no trace of nearly 3,000 Palestinians.
People try to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on October 14, 2024 [Ramadan Abed/Reuters]
By Mohammad Mansour Published On 10 Feb 202610 Feb 2026
At dawn on August 10, 2024, Yasmin Mahani walked through the smoking ruins ofal-Tabin schoolin 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 told Al Jazeera Arabic for an investigation that aired on Monday.
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 genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 72,000 people.
According to the Al Jazeera Arabic investigation, The Rest of the Story, Civil Defence teams in Gaza have documented 2,842 Palestinians who have “evaporated” since the war began in October 2023, leaving behind no remains other than blood spray or small fragments of flesh. .."
". . .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. The chemistry of erasure The investigation detailed how specific chemical compositions in Israeli munitions turn human bodies into ash in seconds.
Vasily Fatigarov, a Russian military expert, explained that thermobaric weapons do not just kill; they obliterate matter.
Unlike conventional explosives, these weapons disperse a cloud of fuel that ignites to create an enormous fireball and a vacuum effect.
“To prolong the burning time, powders of aluminium, magnesium and
titanium are added to the chemical mixture,” Fatigarov said.
“This
raises the temperature of the explosion to between 2,500 and 3,000
degrees Celsius [4,532F to 5,432F].”
According to the
investigation, the intense heat is often generated by tritonal, a
mixture of TNT and aluminium powder used in United States-made bombs like the MK-84.
(Al Jazeera)
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 [212F],” 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.”
Anatomy of the bombs
The investigation identified specific US-manufactured munitions used in Gaza that are linked to these disappearances:
MK-84 ‘Hammer’: This 900kg [2,000lb] unguided bomb packed with tritonal generates heat up to 3,500C [6,332F].
BLU-109 bunker buster: Used in an attack on
al-Mawasi, an area Israel had declared a “safe zone” for forcibly
displaced Palestinians in September 2024, this bomb evaporated 22
people. It has a steel casing and a delayed fuse, burying itself before
detonating a PBXN-109 explosive mix. This creates a large fireball
inside enclosed spaces, incinerating everything within reach.
GBU-39: This precision glide bomb was used in the
al-Tabin school attack. It uses the AFX-757 explosive.
“The GBU-39 is
designed to keep the building structure relatively intact while
destroying everything inside,”Fatigarov noted.
“It kills via a pressure
wave that ruptures lungs and a thermal wave that incinerates soft
tissue.”
Basal of the Civil Defence confirmed finding fragments of GBU-39 wings at sites where bodies had vanished.
A ‘global genocide, not just an Israeli one’
Legal experts said the use of these indiscriminate weapons implicates not just Israel but also its Western suppliers. “This is a global genocide, not just an Israeli one,” said lawyer Diana Buttu, a lecturer at Georgetown University in Qatar.
Speaking at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Buttu argued that the supply chain is evidence of complicity.
“We see a continuous flow of these weapons from the United States and Europe.
They know these weapons do not distinguish between a fighter and a child, yet they continue to send them.”
Buttu
emphasised that under international law, the use of weapons that cannot
distinguish between combatants and noncombatants constitutes a war
crime.
“The world knows Israel possesses and uses these prohibited
weapons,” Buttu said. “The question is why are they allowed to remain
outside the system of accountability.
(Al Jazeera)
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