Israel used multi-ton truck bombs to destroy Gaza before ceasefire, investigation reveals

Israel widely deployed improvised armored vehicle bombs packed with up to three tons of explosives across Gaza in the weeks before the US-brokered ceasefire in October, a new investigation has found.

According to satellite imagery, drone footage and witness accounts, Israeli forces repurposed M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) into massive mobile bombs as they invaded central Gaza City in September, according to the investigation by Reuters.

The explosions, combined with airstrikes and destruction by armored bulldozers, leveled entire blocks of civilian housing, particularly in the Tel al-Hawa and Sabra districts.

Packed with one to three tons of ordnance, the blasts could rival the power of Israel’s largest US-made aerial bombs, scattering debris hundreds of meters and collapsing multi-story buildings.

Satellite analysis showed roughly 650 buildings destroyed in parts of Gaza City in six weeks, leading to the ceasefire.

Gaza resident Hesham Mohammad Badawi told Reuters that his five-story family home was destroyed by an APC explosion in September without prior notice, leaving 42 relatives homeless.

“We could not believe this was our neighborhood, this was our street,” Badawi stated.

He said his family is now staying with relatives in different parts of the city, while he lives in a tent near his former home.

Reuters footage and military experts confirmed wreckage consistent with detonated APCs at several sites.

Seven Gaza City residents also said their homes or those of their neighbors were leveled or severely damaged by the explosions, which several likened to an earthquake.

Military specialists told the news agency that the use of APCs as bombs is highly unusual and risks indiscriminate destruction.

Israel’s military said the demolitions were “militarily necessary,” claiming buildings were used by resistance fighters, an allegation Hamas denies.

Aftermath of Israeli airstrike on buildings in Gaza City

 An Israeli strike levelled two buildings in Gaza City overnight on September 16.

The UN human rights office and two international law experts, who reviewed the findings, warned that the use of such large explosives in dense residential urban areas may have failed one or more principles of humanitarian law that prohibit attacking civilian infrastructure and using disproportionate force.

“The basis that some of it may be booby-trapped,” or once used by Hamas snipers is not enough to justify mass destruction,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told Reuters.

Sunghay said that the demolition of civilian infrastructure could amount to wanton destruction of property, which amounts to a war crime.

The explosive-laden APCs were repurposed M113 vehicles, many of which had been mothballed decades ago.

The investigation found the explosives’ use expanded after Israel faced a shortage of heavy US-supplied bombs, with a cancelled tender to sell surplus M113s allowing the military to instead convert them into demolition weapons.

Danny Orbach, an Israeli military historian, told Reuters that the regime’s military was underprepared for the complex fighting in Gaza, leading to the conclusion there was “no other way to fight such a war except destroying all buildings above ground.”

The regime’s forces entered Gaza City in late August, ordering a full evacuation in September as troops advanced with tanks and airstrikes, devastating eastern suburbs before pushing into central districts where most displaced civilians were sheltering.

Hundreds of thousands fled south, though the UN said up to 700,000 Palestinians remained.

Israel levels Gaza City tower as it steps up forced displacement of Palestinians

The Israeli regime has struck another multi-story building in Gaza City, in an effort to forcefully displace the residents to the south.

Israel said at the time that dozens of high-rise buildings were demolished over Hamas activity, claims the UN says were backed by no evidence.

The investigation documented widespread destruction across Sabra, Tel al-Hawa, and South Rimal, including demolished residential blocks, a human rights center, university buildings, and a mosque.

Gaza officials said Israeli forces detonated hundreds of armored vehicles during this period, sometimes dozens a day.

The UN Satellite Center estimates that 81% of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed during Israel’s two-year-long genocidal war on the densely populated coastal strip.

The area including Gaza City experienced the most damage since July, with approximately 5,600 newly affected structures.

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