In the heart of the ongoing hell that the Gaza Strip has endured for 19 months, the Israeli occupation army no longer relies solely on planes and rockets. It has begun to use silent and terrifying killing tools that invade neighborhoods and plant death in the fabric of daily life.
اضافة اعلان
With the continued aggression and escalation of the occupation’s military operations, a new type of deadly weapon has appeared on Gaza’s streets—one whose only visible part is a silent frame before it transforms into a devastating fireball.
This weapon is known among residents as the "explosive robot," and here is one example: an old armored vehicle that Israel has reused after it was retired from service in 2014, but now in a deadlier, more terrifying form. It is left in the middle of a civilian residential neighborhood and detonated remotely, causing massive destruction and indescribable panic.
These modified armored vehicles have become known among Gaza’s population as “robots,” a name that embodies the mystery and danger they carry. Sometimes they are parked in civilian areas for hours or even days before being suddenly detonated remotely.
The use of this device reflects a new level of psychological warfare and military engineering, where technology is employed to impose control, spread terror, and achieve destructive objectives without direct human involvement, and through unconventional means.
Since the occupation announced the expansion of its operations under what is called “Operation Gideon Vehicles” a few days ago, Gaza residents—especially in the northern Gaza Strip—have complained about the increasing daily use of these explosive robots.
Civilian and Activist Testimonies
In this context, Twitter users and activists confirmed that the Israeli army loads these “explosive robots” with tons of explosives, then leaves them in specific locations for hours or even days before remotely detonating them suddenly.
They pointed out that the mere presence of an “explosive robot” in a residential neighborhood causes a state of extreme tension and anxiety among the population, as the timing of the explosion cannot be predicted. When it happens, the blast is completely different from airstrikes; it is characterized by a massive shockwave, a deafening roar, and a strong earthquake-like tremor.
Massive Destruction and Wiped-Out Neighborhoods
According to testimonies circulating among activists, these explosions cause wide-scale destruction aimed at inflicting the greatest possible human losses among civilians, alongside destroying infrastructure. They noted that detonating a single “robot” can flatten five houses at once or even destroy an entire neighborhood.
Some bloggers described this weapon as a "mini nuclear bomb" due to the intensity of the explosion it produces. One said, “It’s an old tank filled with tens of tons of explosives, capable of destroying hundreds of homes kilometers away.”
Another activist wrote, “I spent one night two days ago in the Tal Al-Zaatar area with the robots… indescribable!!!”
While another said, “Every day they invent a new weapon to exterminate the people of Gaza.”
A field activist reported witnessing the blast effects during a violent escalation round in northern Gaza in October 2024 and beyond, saying, “The robot blasts an area of 200 square meters in two circles; the first is close and almost completely destroys, and the second empties the building of its contents.”
In the same context, bloggers explained that the “booby-trapped robot” is an armored vehicle resembling a smaller tank, carrying nearly 10 tons of explosives and shrapnel, remotely operated via a special encrypted signal.
Some estimated its destructive power to be 10 times that of rockets launched by F-16 fighter jets, making it one of the most dangerous weapons used in the war on Gaza to date.
