‘Not even a body to bury’

What if a weapon could burn so fiercely that the human body doesn’t just die, but also disappears?

This may help explain why thousands in Palestine’s Gaza remain missing.

Since Israel launched its genocidal war on the besieged enclave in October 2023, at least 2,842 Palestinians have effectively “disappeared,” according to an Al Jazeera investigation, citing forensic field documentation and data compiled by Gaza’s Civil Defense teams. 

Al Jazeera’s ‘The Rest of the Story’ probe links the phenomenon to the Israeli army’s use of internationally prohibited thermobaric and incendiary weapons, often referred to as vacuum or aerosol bombs. The munitions can ignite fuel clouds into fireballs reaching over 3,000°C.