More than 2,800 Palestinians are reported missing with no recoverable remains during the war in Gaza, according to the territory’s Civil Defence agency, which says some victims have effectively “vanished” at strike sites.

An investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic said Civil Defence teams have documented 2,842 cases since October 2023 in which individuals could not be accounted for after air strikes, with only blood traces or small fragments of human remains found.

The Israeli war has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians.

The investigation said that Israel used internationally banned thermal and thermobaric weapons in Gaza.

Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said rescue workers determine the number of missing by comparing the number of people believed to have been inside targeted buildings with the bodies recovered.

“We enter a targeted home and cross-reference the known number of occupants with the bodies recovered,” Basal said.

“If a family tells us there were five people inside, and we only recover three intact bodies, we treat the remaining two as ‘evaporated’ only after an exhaustive search yields nothing but biological traces.”

The investigation attributed the phenomenon to the use of high-temperature explosives, including thermobaric weapons, which generate intense heat and pressure.

Military analyst Vasily Fatigarov said such weapons can reach temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Celsius, particularly when enhanced with metallic powders.

Dr Munir Al Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said exposure to extreme heat combined with pressure can cause catastrophic destruction of human tissue.

The report identified several US-manufactured munitions allegedly used in Gaza, including the MK-84 bomb, the BLU-109 bunker buster and the GBU-39 glide bomb.

Basal said fragments consistent with GBU-39 components had been recovered at some strike sites.

Israel has said it targets armed groups in Gaza and takes steps to minimise civilian casualties.

It has not publicly confirmed the specific munitions cited in the report.

Legal experts interviewed in the programme said the use of weapons that cannot distinguish between combatants and civilians could violate international humanitarian law.

Israel has rejected accusations of genocide and criticised international legal actions against its leaders.

For residents such as Yasmin Mahani, whose son went missing after a strike on Al Tabin school in August 2024, the statistics reflect personal loss.

“We found nothing of Saad. Not even a body to bury,” she said.