At dawn on August 10, 2024, Yasmin Mahani walked through the smoking ruins of al-Tabin school in Gaza City searching for her son, Saad.
She found her husband screaming, but no trace of the boy.
“I went into the mosque and found myself stepping on flesh and blood,” Mahani told Al Jazeera Arabic for an investigation that aired on Monday.
She searched hospitals and morgues for days.
“We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury. That was the hardest part.”
More broadly, Mahani is among Palestinians reported missing during the Gaza war, which Gaza health authorities say has killed more than 72,000 people.
According to the Al Jazeera Arabic investigation "The Rest of the Story", Gaza Civil Defense teams have documented 2,842 Palestinians described as having “evaporated” since the Israeli genocidal war began, with only blood spray or small fragments reportedly left.
Experts and witnesses cited in the investigation attributed this outcome to the repeated use by the Israeli regime of thermal and thermobaric weapons, sometimes called vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating temperatures above 3,500 degrees Celsius.
Turning to the weapons analysis, the investigation examined how certain chemical mixtures may produce extreme heat capable of destroying human remains.
Vasily Fatigarov, a Russian military expert cited in the report, said thermobaric weapons disperse fuel that ignites into a large fireball combined with a vacuum effect rather than a conventional blast.
“To prolong the burning time, powders of aluminum, magnesium and titanium are added to the chemical mixture,” Fatigarov said.
“This raises the temperature of the explosion to between 2,500 and 3,000 degrees Celsius (4,532F to 5,432F).”
The investigation said such heat may be generated by tritonal, a TNT and aluminium powder mixture used in some US-manufactured bombs, including the MK-84.
Dr Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, described the potential biological effects of intense heat on the human body.
“The boiling point of water is 100 degrees Celsius (212F),” al-Bursh said.
“When a body is exposed to energy exceeding 3,000 degrees combined with massive pressure and oxidation, the fluids boil instantly. The tissues vaporize and turn to ash. It is chemically inevitable.”
Regarding specific munitions, the investigation identified several US-produced bombs it linked to incidents where bodies were reportedly not recovered.
It cited the MK-84 “Hammer”, a 900kg unguided bomb containing tritonal that can produce temperatures around 3,500C.
It also referenced the BLU-109 bunker-buster, reportedly used in September 2024 in al-Mawasi, an area previously declared by Israel as a “safe zone”, where the investigation said 22 people were killed.
The report further cited the GBU-39 glide bomb, said to have been used in the al-Tabin school strike.
“The GBU-39 is designed to keep the building structure relatively intact while destroying everything inside,” Fatigarov noted.
“It kills via a pressure wave that ruptures lungs and a thermal wave that incinerates soft tissue.”
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza Civil Defense, said fragments of GBU-39 wings were found at sites where bodies were reportedly missing.
“We go to a targeted house where we know five people were inside,” Basal said.
“We find three bodies. The other two have simply disappeared. We often find only scalps or traces of blood on the walls.”
From a legal perspective, some analysts cited in the report argued responsibility may extend beyond Israel to supplying countries.
“This is a global genocide, not just an Israeli one,” said lawyer Diana Buttu, a lecturer at Georgetown University in Qatar.
Speaking at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, she said continued weapons transfers suggested complicity.
“We see a continuous flow of these weapons from the United States and Europe.
They know these weapons do not distinguish between a fighter and a child, yet they continue to send them.”
Buttu said international humanitarian law prohibits weapons incapable of distinguishing between combatants and civilians.
“The world knows Israel possesses and uses these prohibited weapons,” Buttu said.
“The question is why are they allowed to remain outside the system of accountability.”
Concerning international accountability, legal scholars cited in the report said global judicial mechanisms have struggled to curb the conflict.
The International Court of Justice issued provisional measures in January 2024 ordering Israel to prevent acts of genocide, while the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in November 2024 for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tariq Shandab, a professor of international law, said the system had “failed the test of Gaza”.
“Since the ceasefire agreement (in October), more than 600 Palestinians have been killed,” Shandab said.
He added that siege conditions, food shortages and ongoing strikes have persisted.
“The blockade on medicine and food is itself a crime against humanity.”
Shandab also cited US vetoes at the UN Security Council as contributing to Israeli impunity, while suggesting universal jurisdiction cases in Europe could still be pursued.
Finally, at the human level, families continue to report unresolved losses amid the destruction.
Rafiq Badran, who said he lost four children in the Bureij refugee camp, reported recovering only small remains for burial.
“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said.
“I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”