Gaza, MINA – The Israeli army has introduced a destructive new tactic in its nearly two-year war on Gaza: remotely detonating robots packed with explosives in residential neighborhoods, according to Gaza’s government media office,. Anadolu Agency reported.
On Aug. 13, the Israeli military launched what Palestinian officials described as a “criminal” ground offensive, detonating more than 100 explosive robots. The blasts forced thousands to evacuate, killing 1,100 Palestinians and injuring 6,008 others.
A Gaza security source told Anadolu that bulldozers push old armored personnel carriers loaded with explosives into neighborhoods at night before remote detonation, generating blast waves up to 300 meters and causing subsequent building collapses. “This tactic first appeared during the Israeli incursion into Jabalia in May 2024,” the source said, adding that Palestinian resistance forces initially mistook the vehicles for manned targets.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli army destroys roughly 300 housing units daily using 15 explosive-packed vehicles carrying nearly 100 tons of munitions. Each vehicle can demolish up to 20 housing units at once, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians. Explosions, often triggered at night or dawn, can be heard up to 40 kilometers away.
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Military analyst Rami Abu Zubaida explained that Israel employs two categories of explosive robots: modified tracked vehicles, such as M113 armored personnel carriers packed with tons of explosives, and smaller ground robots fitted with explosive barrels. Both are used to clear tunnels, attack crowded neighborhoods, and pave the way for ground troops.
He emphasized that while the tactic reduces Israeli battlefield casualties, the human toll is devastating. Entire neighborhoods are wiped out, families are displaced en masse, and fear is deliberately instilled to accelerate forced evacuations. “Explosive robots are not conventional military tools but instruments of genocidal warfare,” Abu Zubaida said.
Since October 2023, Israel’s military aggression has killed more than 64,200 Palestinians in Gaza and left the enclave devastated and facing famine. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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