The Israeli occupation uses explosive barrels in genocide crimes in northern Gaza

Last night, Israeli occupation aircraft dropped explosive barrels on residential neighborhoods in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of the war of extermination that the northern Gaza Strip has been subjected to since October 5, according to Al Jazeera satellite channel.

The occupation bulldozers had previously planted explosive barrels in the middle of Jabalia neighborhoods, before detonating them remotely, but this is the first time that Israeli planes have dropped explosive barrels on the Gaza Strip from the air.

Palestinian media reported that "explosive barrels are falling on residential neighborhoods in northern Gaza, causing very strong explosions and ground tremors felt by residents of Gaza City."

Barrel bombs are a cheap, highly lethal, primitive weapon that became widely known after the Syrian regime used them to confront the popular revolution that erupted against it. Human rights activists are demanding that they be banned under international law.

The explosive barrels consist of metal or cement molds equipped with a propeller in the back and a mechanical detonator in the front, and they have levers on their ends that help them to be placed in the plane that will drop them - according to the law of free fall - on the target location.

These barrels carry between 200 and 300 kilograms of TNT explosive material, and petroleum materials are added to them to help start fires when the target is hit, and metal scraps such as nails and scrap pieces used in the car industry, to act as shrapnel that causes material damage to people and buildings, especially if the bombing is sudden.

One of the characteristics of explosive barrels is that they are a relatively cheap weapon that does not require any technical guidance. They are dropped from helicopters on crowded residential areas, causing great destruction and enormous pressure accompanied by large masses of flame within a circle with a diameter of 250 meters without any accuracy in hitting the targets.

On October 5, the Israeli occupation army began unprecedented bombing operations on the Jabalia camp and town and large areas in the northern Gaza Strip governorate, before announcing the start of an invasion of these areas the next day, under the pretext of "preventing Hamas from regaining its strength in the region," while the Palestinians say that Israel wants to occupy the region and displace its residents.

With broad American support, Israel has been waging a genocidal war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has left 143,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded - most of them children and women - and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Source: Al Jazeera