Doha Feb !3: Gaza Civil Defense records indicate at least 2,842 Palestinians have “disappeared” since October 2023, with investigators linking many cases to thermobaric munitions reportedly used by Israel—known as “vacuum bombs” for their ability to incinerate bodies into mere blood spray or bone fragments through extreme heat exceeding 3,500°C.
Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal detailed the forensic process: cross-referencing family reports with site searches, where “if five entered a home but only three bodies are found after exhaustive digging, the rest are deemed ‘evaporated’ via biological traces like fluids or tissue.”
Russian weapons expert Vasily Fatigarov described their mechanism: fuel aerosol disperses and ignites with atmospheric oxygen, generating prolonged fireballs, pressure waves, and vacuum effects that rupture organs without shrapnel—ideal for tunnels and buildings, amplifying lethality in dense urban settings.
These “pressure bombs” operate in stages—fuel cloud formation followed by ignition for sustained blasts penetrating enclosures—though legal under international law if proportional, their civilian-area use draws sharp criticism amid Gaza’s 40,000+ death toll. Nations like the US and Russia stock them; Israel denies deployment, as Al Jazeera’s expert/forensic-based claims fuel war-crimes debates in the fog of conflict.
