The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor revealed that the Israeli occupation army detonated approximately 120 car bombs loaded with approximately 840 tons of explosives inside residential neighborhoods in Gaza City over the past week, at a rate of more than 17 car bombs per day. The monitoring group explained that the detonation of each one was equivalent to the force of a natural earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, in what it described as “the largest brutal use of force in the context of the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, now in its 24th consecutive month.”
The monitoring group, a Geneva-based human rights organization, explained in a press release on Saturday that seismologists and military physicists estimate that the load of each car bomb, which ranges between 6-7 tons of TNT, generates explosive energy similar to a moderate earthquake. It explained that these explosions cause widespread destruction, with their severe impact extending up to 90 meters away, while minor damage can reach hundreds of meters, and in open areas, damage extends up to one kilometer.
The Observatory noted that its field team’s documentation shows that the detonation of car bombs causes noticeable vibrations in buildings even several kilometers away, mimicking the effect of natural earthquakes. This comes at a time when most buildings in Gaza suffer from cracks and severe damage due to the continuous bombardment that has lasted for more than 23 months.
It noted that the Israeli occupation army has intensified its use of these car bombs in the last week on three main axes within Gaza City (southern, eastern, and northern), as part of an effort to destroy central residential areas and force residents into forced displacement through psychological terror and deafening explosions that shake the city.
The Observatory held Israel responsible for a grave violation of international humanitarian law, stressing that the use of car bombs is classified as prohibited indiscriminate weapons, which cannot be accurately directed and whose effects cannot be limited to military targets. This constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity, and is also included among the acts defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
