At least 2,842 Gazans have disappeared since the start of Israel’s genocidal war, according to an Al Jazeera special investigation, which attributed the phenomenon to high-temperature weapons capable of vaporizing human tissue.
According to the investigation, the figure of 2,842 Palestinians classified as having “evaporated” is based on field documentation rather than estimates.
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Doha-based Al Jazeera that rescue teams rely on a “method of elimination” at strike sites, comparing the known number of people inside a targeted building with the remains recovered afterward.
“If a family tells us there were five people inside, and we only recover three intact bodies, we only classify the remaining two as ‘evaporated’ after an exhaustive search yields nothing but biological traces,” Basal said, citing blood spray or small fragments such as scalps.
He stressed that classification occurs only after searches of rubble, hospitals and morgues produce no identifiable remains.
The investigation included testimony from Palestinians who searched for relatives who vanished in Israeli strikes.
Yasmin Mahani said she walked through the ruins of al-Tabin school in Gaza City at dawn on Aug. 10, 2024, looking for her son, Saad, after an Israeli attack.
“I went into the mosque and found myself stepping on flesh and blood,” Mahani told Al Jazeera Arabic.
Yasmin said she searched hospitals and morgues for days but found no trace of her son.
“We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”
Military experts interviewed in the investigation attributed the disappearances to Israel’s systematic use of thermobaric and thermal weapons, often referred to as “vacuum” or “aerosol” bombs.
Russian military expert Vasily Fatigarov said such weapons disperse a fuel cloud that ignites into a massive fireball, producing extreme heat and pressure.
“To prolong the burning time, powders of aluminum, magnesium and titanium are added to the chemical mixture,” Fatigarov said, adding this raises explosion temperatures to between 2,500 and 3,000 degrees Celsius (4,532 and 5,432 degrees Fahrenheit).
The investigation said similar effects are produced by tritonal, a mixture of TNT and aluminum powder used in some U.S.-manufactured bombs.
The report identified several munitions used in Gaza, including the U.S.-made MK-84 bomb, the BLU-109 bunker buster and the GBU-39 precision glide bomb.
According to the investigation, the GBU-39 was used in the al-Tabin school strike. Fatigarov said the weapon is designed to keep building structures largely intact while destroying everything inside through pressure and thermal waves.
Medical explanation
Basal said Civil Defense teams recovered fragments consistent with GBU-39 components at multiple strike sites where bodies could not be found.
“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.”
The investigation also revealed that the BLU-109 bunker buster was used in an Israeli attack on al-Mawasi, an area Israel had declared a “safe zone” for displaced Palestinians in September 2024, noting that “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,” it said.
The probe also mentioned the MK-84 “Hammer,” a 900-kilogram (1,984-pound) unguided bomb packed with tritonal that generates up to 3,500 degrees Celsius of heat.
Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, explained the biological impact of such weapons, noting that the human body is composed of roughly 80% 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 vaporize and turn to ash. It is chemically inevitable.”
Legal implications
Legal experts cited in the investigation said the use of weapons incapable of distinguishing between civilians and combatants may constitute war crimes under international law.
Lawyer Diana Buttu, a lecturer at Georgetown University in Qatar, said responsibility may extend beyond Israel.
“This is a global genocide, not just an Israeli one,” she said, arguing that continued weapons transfers by foreign suppliers indicate 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.”
She added that international law prohibits the use of weapons that cannot discriminate between civilians and fighters.
Accountability questioned
The investigation noted that the findings come despite provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice in January 2024 directing Israel to prevent acts of genocide, as well as an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November 2024.
International law professor Tariq Shandab said the international justice system has “failed the test of Gaza.”
“The blockade on medicine and food is itself a crime against humanity,” he said, adding that universal jurisdiction cases in foreign courts could offer alternative legal avenues if political will exists.
For families affected, the investigation said, legal definitions offer little comfort.
Rafiq Badran, who lost four children in an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp, said he was only able to recover fragments to bury.
“Four of my children just evaporated,” he told Al Jazeera. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”
