Israel Has Evaporated Thousands of Palestinians With US-Made Bombs

US-made bombs dropped by Israel on Gaza have evaporated the bodies of at least 2,842 Palestinians, leaving no trace of the victims besides small amounts of blood, flesh and bone, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.

Experts and witnesses told the outlet the phenomenon was caused by internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, supplied by the US, that burn at 3,500C.

Gaza’s civil defence said it tallied the number of deaths from these bombs via a forensic process. “We enter a targeted home and cross-reference the known number of occupants with the bodies recovered,” spokesperson Mahmoud 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.

Al Jazeera identified several US-made bombs used in Gaza since October 2023 that are linked to the evaporation of victims’ bodies.

They include the MK-84 Hammer, a 900kg unguided munition that generates heat up to 3,500C; and the BLU-109 bunker buster, which was used in a September 2024 attack that evaporated 22 people, the outlet reported.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed over 72,000 people and wounded over 170,000. A January 2025 study in the Lancet medical journal found that the death toll in Gaza had been underestimated by 41%.

Israel has killed 586 Gazans since a so-called ceasefire took effect in October last year.

The US sends over $3.8bn (£2.8bn) worth of weapons and military assistance to Israel each year.