How Netanyahu Turned Leftover Bombs Into Brand New War Crimes

Right, so a shortened version of the standing order issued to the Israeli Air Force upon return from air strikes committed against Iran during their 12 day conflict might essentially have read: “In case of unused bombs, break Gaza,” as it turns out that following those strikes on Iran and upon the flight home, they looped back across Gaza on their return flights and, rather than land with munitions still onboard, dropped their leftover payloads on the already-obliterated strip. Not because Gaza posed any new threat. Not because of fresh intelligence. Not because it was en route back to base, because it wasn’t, it was actually a detour to do that. They did it simply because Gaza was there—convenient, captive, and condemned. What began as a grotesque claim of logistical “efficiency” quickly mutated into formal policy, so that this became routine, day after day: Gaza, reduced to a live-fire dumping ground because the people there weren’t already suffering enough. In a world where war crimes are casually folded into flight plans and genocide becomes a bureaucratic checkbox, this story—shocking as it is—has gone almost entirely unreported. Perhaps because Iranian strikes simply superseded it, perhaps because too many in the world have become numbed to Gaza, or perhaps because for Israel, bombing Gaza isn't news at all. It's just another day.
Right, so the Israeli Air Force (IAF) apparently made it formal policy during the 12-day bombardment of Iran last month to unload unused munitions over the Gaza Strip each time its jets returned from Iranian airspace. As if we didn’t think they were sick enough already. This grotesque practice, apparently occurring with chilling regularity from June 13 through to June 24, was more than just a logistical decision—it is the violent manifestation of a genocidal mindset. It has gone almost entirely unreported by mainstream Western outlets, buried beneath headlines that focused solely on Iran, despite the massive human cost inflicted on Gazans as a result of that, on top of what Israel was already meting out on them. Israel’s dual-front aggression, far from demonstrating military sophistication, laid bare a ruthless doctrine where Gaza served as a literal weapons dump, and Palestinian life counted for nothing. Here’s an excerpt from The Cradle laying it all out as one of the few outlets who have covered this:
‘Israeli fighter pilots returning from air defence missions during the 12-day war with Iran were routinely authorized to unload their leftover munitions on the Gaza Strip, according to a 2 July report by Maariv.
The move, initially a pilot-led initiative to “assist” Israeli ground forces in Khan Yunis and northern Gaza, was quickly expanded by Air Force Commander Tomer Bar into a daily operational policy across all squadrons.
The report outlines how, during the operation, pilots assigned to intercept missiles and drones launched from Iran were equipped not only with air-to-air missiles but also with air-to-surface munitions.
After completing their Iran-related missions, pilots contacted Gaza operation control rooms and offered to drop remaining bombs on designated targets in the enclave.
Air Force officials embraced the initiative. Within hours, the ad hoc proposal became standard practice, with squadrons instructed to coordinate with ground units before landing and to strike Gaza “Hamas targets” on their return.’
Israel's initial provocation came in the form of deep strikes against Iranian nuclear and military facilities—a series of illegal preemptive attacks under the guise of national security. But as the IAF returned from these sorties, often with unused air-to-air or air-to-ground munitions, pilots sought approval to "dispose" of this hardware over Gaza rather than bring it back. What began as individual requests quickly became institutionalized under the direction of IAF Commander Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar. Gaza, already battered from 20 months of genocidal warfare, was subjected to new bombardments not because of fresh provocations, but because the jets happened to be flying overhead.
The official justification offered by Israeli sources, including the Ministry of Defence, was that these actions were a matter of "operational efficiency"—a means of maintaining pressure on Hamas while managing resources. However, this logic collapses under scrutiny. First, munitions disposal in populated civilian areas directly contravenes the laws of armed conflict and the principles of proportionality and distinction as outlined in the Geneva Conventions. Second, there is no credible evidence that the bombings targeted legitimate military assets. In many cases, bombs were dropped in residential zones, agricultural areas, and refugee camps, suggesting that the policy was more about spectacle and domination than strategy.
Although the first few bomb drops may have involved pilots making impromptu in-flight decisions, this quickly evolved into a formalized protocol. Also according to The Cradle and also the Mehr News Agency, the IAF high command began pre-authorizing a list of sites in Gaza for return flights to strike, regardless of whether they had any immediate connection to Hamas operations. These included known civilian infrastructure points already hit in previous waves of attacks, but it saved launching fresh jets to strike Gaza when they already had jets in the air – making war and genocide as ‘efficient’ as possible. This institutionalisation of terror transformed Gaza into a perpetual target board, at Israeli convenience off the back of its conflict with Iran.
The use of "leftover" munitions created a new tempo and scale in Israel's assault on Gaza. I mean what an attitude to munitions, we’ve got them so we need to use them, might as well finish the lot, lets just dump what is left on Gaza. Data from Gaza's health authorities indicate that over 800 Palestinians were killed during the 12-day period of Iran strikes—a significant increase compared to previous weeks.
Is the use of leftover bombs on Gaza even legal? Well colour me surprised, the answer is a resounding no. International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the use of force that is not necessary or proportionate to the given military objective. Repurposing bombs meant for a different conflict, in a different theatre of war, for use on a captive civilian population, constitutes a textbook war crime, just one more to add to the very long list. The Geneva Conventions demand distinction between combatants and civilians—a principle Israel has flaunted repeatedly. No credible evidence has emerged that these return-flight strikes were surgical or necessary.
The psychological and tactical implications of using Gaza as a dumping ground are profound. Not only does it expose the utter disregard for Palestinian life, but it also situates Gaza as a functionally dehumanised space within Israeli military thinking—a test site, a pressure valve, a garbage chute.
This policy of daily bombings underscores Israel's desensitisation and impunity. That these actions were not only carried out but proudly leaked to the press, those interested at least, those who give a damn by military sources speaks volumes. Israel, emboldened by the support or silence of Western governments, no longer feels the need to hide its war crimes. Palestinians are not only demonized and confined; they are also made to absorb the excesses of other wars Israel chooses to fight.
From a tactical perspective, the IDF appears to have embraced a dual-front military doctrine: fight Iran, punish Gaza whilst we’re at it. This raises serious legitimate concerns if this isn’t addressed and nipped in the bud. What happens in future conflicts when Israeli jets return from Lebanon, Yemen, or Iran again? Will Gaza remain the default blast zone? A dumping ground for munitions that they just have to use and can’t possibly hang onto for another day. The normalisation of this behaviour sets a catastrophic precedent for the entanglement of separate warfronts, reducing the lives of Palestinians to collateral consequences in wars they don’t even have a role in.
Despite the scale and brazenness of these actions, international institutions have largely remained silent. Human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued general condemnations of Israel's conduct in Gaza, but none have yet launched targeted investigations into the "leftover bomb" policy. I daresay some of that is down to how little this has been reported. The United Nations has similarly failed to act decisively, well there’s a surprise, illustrating once again the deep flaws in the international accountability system. Media coverage, particularly in the West, has also been sparse to non existent. Compare this with the saturation coverage of Israeli strikes on Iran and it becomes clear that Palestinian suffering remains an acceptable form of collateral damage in mainstream narratives.
It is impossible to separate this military strategy from Netanyahu’s domestic politics, because we all know that’s why he is making so much war. Facing escalating protests, international criticism, and that corruption trial, Netanyahu has repeatedly used war as a political cover when things get tricky for him. The bombing of Gaza during the Iran strikes conveniently allowed him to continue fighting on all fronts, rallying his nationalist base, and diverting attention from his legal troubles. And finding the most efficient way to do it. So his message to Gaza was even we're not fighting you, even when we prioritised fighting Iran over you, as Netanyahu declared, Iran was the bigger issue, we can still bomb you.
This tactic, despite having been floated by one pilot and adopted as policy by Tomer Bar, is not incidental or unique either. It is the logical extension of a military culture that has long embraced disproportionate force. The so-called "Dahiya Doctrine," used in Lebanon in 2006 and later in Gaza, called for overwhelming retaliation and destruction of civilian infrastructure to deter resistance. What we’re hearing about here that happened last month was its evolution if you like: not just overwhelming response, but casual, opportunistic bombing. In this way, Israel institutionalises violence even further than it already had, making it routine and bureaucratically efficient.
This chilling development suggests that Israel has normalised Gaza as a space for military improvisation more than it already was. We already know Israel sells armoured vehicles and the like as battle-tested, well they’re battle-tested by using the population of Gaza as guinea pigs and if you live in London you may have seen the Met Police experimenting with such vehicles recently. With a captive population, a collapsed infrastructure, and little international scrutiny, the IDF has carte blanche to experiment, retaliate, and demonstrate strength. This "leftover strike" mentality is not just a military tactic now, approved off by the top brass—it is a form of psychological warfare, reminding Gazans that they are always within the blast radius, that this is how little their lives are worth.
The precedent this sets is global though. If Israel can drop unused bombs on a civilian population with impunity, what stops the United States, Russia, or China or anyone else, from adopting similar policies in in their conflicts? Who will stop them or will it be the case that if they do it there will be international condemnation and sanctions, but Israel as always remains above all of that? I think we can hazard a guess can’t we? Nevertheless it should be obvious that his erodes the fundamental norms of disengagement and the rules of warfare. Worse still, it treats all perceived enemies as part of a singular war map, merging distinct conflicts into one rolling campaign of destruction. Israel always the root cause no matter where conflicts arise, but nothing ever getting done about because we’ll hear ad nauseum that Israel has a right to defend itself won’t we?
Calls are already emerging for this policy to be investigated as a war crime though. Legal experts have pointed to Article 51 of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. If justice is to be more than a slogan and some pretty words on a piece of paper, then survivors and victims’ families must be able to challenge Israel in international courts, but as always whether that will happen remains to be seen.
What happened during Israel’s 12-day Iran operation was not merely collateral damage—it was a declaration. A declaration that Gaza exists not just as a battlefield but as a disposable wasteland for Israel's military ambitions. That this went largely unreported is a scandal unto itself. The world must reckon with the implications of such stories as these: a rogue state, engaged in multiple illegal wars, casually layering one genocide atop another. Gaza is not a weapons dump. Gaza is not disposable. Gaza deserves to live and we need to keep talking about it, we need to keep raising these stories that go poorly reported, so please share this video and the articles its sourced from to raise awareness, because stuff like this should be headline news, not limited to alternative and foreign news outlets, western mainstream media keeping us dumbed down as much as possible.
In a similar vein to this story, another story you aren’t supposed to see, within the genocide of Gaza itself is the specific targeting by Israel of medical staff in the besieged strip. Doctors under attack. IF the BBC had had its way, you’d never have seen the superb no holds barred documentary they commissioned, but were too scared to show, scared of the Israel Lobby. Luckily Channel 4 weren’t afraid and showed it themselves and everyone who can see it, needs to. Get all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch.
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