EMHRM calls for investigating the possibility of Israeli occupation’s use of thermal weapons in Gaza

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has called for the formation of an international investigation committee on the weapons used by “Israel” in the Gaza Strip, including the possibility of its use of bombs that generate intense heat that leads to the vaporization of the victims’ bodies.

The monitor said in a statement today: “The testimonies that it documented and preliminary information it collected reveal a hidden side of the horrific levels of killing practiced by “Israel” in the Gaza Strip, related to the evaporation or melting of victims’ bodies as a result of bombs dropped by warplanes on homes.”

It made it clear that the Israeli occupation army’s resort to causing massive destruction in residential areas during its ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October, and the huge numbers of deaths and injuries, raises fears of the possibility of its use of thermal weapons, or what is known as “vacuum bombs.”

The monitor indicated that thousands of victims are still missing, either due to the inability to pull them from under the rubble, or because their bodies were not found in places from which the rubble had been removed, or because they were forcibly hidden by the occupation army.

It added that it documented several cases of victims who died in occupation strikes on residential buildings and facilities, pointing out that the bodies had turned to ash, including victims of the mass grave that was found in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, which raises question about the type of bombs used in these attacks.

The monitor asserted that the possibility of the turning of bodies into ash is caused by the use of thermal bombs, which requires opening an international investigation to provide an accurate description of the type of weapons used by the occupation, explaining that international humanitarian law prohibits the use of thermal bombs to target civilians, according to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

The use of thermal bombs against civilians is a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The monitor stated that “Israel” has a long record of committing serious violations of the rules of international humanitarian law, especially during its aggression against the Gaza Strip, in which it used and continues to use various types of weapons and ammunition, in addition to that the results of investigations conducted by some international bodies confirm that what “ “Israel” is doing amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, which requires activating all levels of international, legal and judicial investigations and accountability mechanisms and serious work to hold those responsible accountable.

Basma Qaddour