Investigation: Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate

First published in Al Jazeera, 10 Feb 2026

An investigation by Al Jazeera found that at least 2,842 Palestinians in Gaza have “evaporated” — meaning their bodies could not be recovered after Israeli strikes, with only traces such as blood spray or tiny fragments found.

Civil defence teams describe arriving at bomb sites and finding almost nothing. No remains to carry. No bodies to wrap. Just blood, fragments, and empty space where people had been. Families searching for loved ones were told there was nothing left to bury.

The investigation attributes these cases to the use of high-temperature munitions, including thermobaric and heavy bunker-buster bombs, sometimes referred to as vacuum bombs. These weapons generate extreme heat and pressure. In enclosed spaces, they can collapse lungs, pulverize structures, and ignite everything combustible. Experts cited in the report say the temperatures can climb high enough to destroy human tissue almost completely.

The report also references the use of US-manufactured bombs, including models such as the MK-84, BLU-109, and GBU-39. These munitions are designed for penetrating reinforced structures or delivering precision-guided strikes, depending on configuration.

The figure of 2,842 is not an estimate, but the result of grim forensic accounting by Gaza’s Civil Defence. Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal explained to Al Jazeera that teams use a “method of elimination” at strike sites. “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.

Vasily Fatigarov, a 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.”

Israel has long defended its operations in Gaza as targeted strikes against Hamas infrastructure. It insists it operates within international law. Yet the scale of destruction in Gaza, already documented in satellite imagery and by humanitarian agencies, raises a blunt question: what does “proportionality” mean when entire apartment blocks vanish and the dead cannot even be counted properly because their bodies are gone?

©TNPP | Source: Al Jazeera – Read the full article