'Israel' potentially using bombs that evaporate, melt bodies: Euro-Med

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
1 May 2024 15:57
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The human rights group says that the occupation is potentially using banned thermobaric bombs targeting residential buildings, turning martyrs' bodies into ashes.

A large explosion in a residential neighborhood in Gaza following Israeli air aggression on October 8, 2024 (AFP)

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor disclosed on Tuesday that it had received testimonies indicating that bodies of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza seemed to have "evaporated or melted," suggesting the use of prohibited thermal weapons in residential areas.

The Geneva-based rights group called for an international investigation into the matter, urging that an "international committee of experts must be established to look into the weapons Israel has been using as part of its genocide in the Gaza Strip .. including the potential use of bombs that produce such high heat that victims’ bodies evaporate."

According to the report, the genocidal war on Gaza, which has resulted in the martyrdom of over 34,000 Palestinians at the least, raises concerns "about the potential use of 'thermal weapons', or what are known as 'vacuum bombs'," - well-known in military circles for their efficacy in demolishing caves and underground tunnel complexes.

"A number of the victims killed in these horrifying Israeli raids on residential buildings have vanished and may have turned to ashes, raising questions about the type of bombs used in the attacks," Euro-Med said, also adding that thousands of martyrs "remain missing, either because it was impossible to recover them from under the debris in light of insufficient equipment and technical know-how, or because their bodies were either hidden by the Israeli army or no longer exist."

The group pointed out that the Gaza Civil Defense Service has issued several statements regarding the victims' bodies turning into ashes this month. These statements have detailed the discovery of a mass grave at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

“An international investigation must be launched into Israel’s probable use of internationally banned weapons, including thermobaric bombs,” the human rights monitor said.

It further emphasizes that the use of incendiary weapons against civilians in densely populated areas is prohibited by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and international humanitarian law.

“The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also classifies the use of thermal bombs as a war crime.”

"The findings of investigations by certain credible international organizations and bodies into Israel’s ongoing genocide, along with the startling statistics about the number of people killed and the extent of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, support the possibility that Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity," the report concluded.