The Possible Thermobaric Bomb Dropped on Gaza Demands a War Crime Investigation
Did Israel just use a bomb designed to kill everyone in the neighborhood?
A double-flash explosion struck Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza this week, captured on CCTV and consistent with the characteristics of a thermobaric or fuel-air explosive. The strike left behind a massive fireball, a crushing blast wave, and a cloud of debris that hung over the ruins of what was once a residential area. This isn’t a bomb to target tunnels, which is the usual excuse. This is designed to suck the remaining life out of any citizen who might be in the vicinity.
Thermobaric weapons, banned by no treaty but universally condemned when used in civilian areas, work by dispersing an aerosol cloud of fuel and then igniting it. The result is a firestorm that sucks the oxygen from the lungs of anyone nearby and creates overpressure capable of flattening concrete. A double flash is a key signature: the first from fuel dispersion, the second from ignition. That's exactly what we see in the video above.
Israel has not confirmed the use of such a weapon. But if this were Russia, the headlines would be filled with outrage. Instead, we can find a single English speaking source covering the bomb. The Israeli propaganda mouthpiece, the Times of Israel, has tried to play off the bomb as having some military purpose, without naming the bomb itself.
This isn’t a military strike on infrastructure. This is a weapon designed to kill as many people in a given radius as possible. Beit Hanoun has no high-value targets left, it barely has streets. What it does have are civilians, displaced families, children. This bomb was dropped on them.
The strike follows months of carpet bombing and comes amid growing calls for international accountability. But so far, no major Western government has even acknowledged the blast. No investigation has been announced, no official statements have been made. As it has been with the rest of the genocide in Gaza, the media in the West don’t want you to know the worst elements.
This is the kind of weapon the U.S. condemned Russia for using in Aleppo. It is the kind of explosion that should trigger war crimes investigations. But as long as it is Israel doing the bombing, Gaza is allowed to burn in silence.
The people of Palestine deserve more than silence. They deserve truth, and they deserve justice. They deserve to be free.