Main Menu
ع
Methodologies
OSINT
Analyzing publicly available information, such as social media posts, news reports, and satellite imagery, to gather evidence and reconstruct events.
Fieldwork
Conducting on-site investigations to collect firsthand data, including photographs, videos, and witness testimonies.
3D Modeling
Creating detailed three-dimensional digital models of environments to simulate and analyze events.
Synchronization
Aligning various data sources—such as videos, photographs, and audio recordings—in time and space to create a coherent narrative.
Geolocation
Determining the exact location where media was captured by analyzing visual cues, metadata, and other contextual information.
Re-enactment
Reconstructing events through simulations or staged scenarios to understand actions and perspectives.
Mapping
Creating detailed maps to visualize data, illustrate patterns, and provide spatial context to investigations.
Pattern Analysis
Identifying recurring behaviors or tactics by analyzing multiple incidents to reveal systematic practices.
Image Matching
Comparing images to identify similarities or differences, assisting in verifying locations, objects, or events.
Audio Analysis
Examining sound recordings to extract information about events, including identifying weapon types or explosions.
The Shelling of Khudair Warehouse: Chemical Warfare by Indirect Means
27، May 2022
Date 15 May 2021 Publication 28 May 2022 Location Gaza - Palestine
In collaboration w/ Forensic Architecture, Ain Media Gaza. Methodologies OSI, Interviews, Ground Truth, 3D Modeling, Synchronization Forum Media, Advocacy, Legal Process
Area    Airstrikes, Chemical Attacks, Environmental Violence, Fire
Watch Video
 

Abstract: Marking the launch of Al-Haq’s Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit based in Ramallah and built in collaboration with Forensic Architecture, we examined the circumstances of the 15 May 2021 Israeli bombing of the Khudair Pharmaceuticals and Agricultural Tools Company in Beit Lahiya—the largest agricultural chemical warehouse in Gaza—as part of the environmental disaster imposed on Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

 

This investigation marks the launch of Al-Haq’s newly established Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit (FAI Unit). For the past 1.5 years, Al-Haq and Forensic Architecture have worked closely to build the FAI Unit. Housed within Al-Haq’s Monitoring and Documentation Department in Ramallah, and the first of its kind in the Middle East, the FAI Unit employs Forensic Architecture’s established methodologies and techniques for monitoring and documenting violations against Palestinians in pursuit of legal accountability and public advocacy.  In so doing, the FAI Unit aims to produce a new generation of visual investigations led by Palestinian practitioners.

On the evening of 15 May 2021—the 73rd anniversary of al-Nakba and during Israel’s latest military attack on Gaza—the Israeli occupation forces bombed the Khudair Pharmaceuticals and Agricultural Tools Company in Beit Lahiya, the largest agricultural chemical warehouse in Gaza.

Hosted GIF
Incendiary artillery shells set fire to hundreds of tons of toxic pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals and other farming materials, initiating a toxic cloud that enveloped large parts of northern Gaza. The Israeli army did not provide a statement about the attack.

Forensic Architecture and Al-Haq’s newly established Forensic Architecture Unit (FAI Unit) worked together with members of the Khudair family and residents of the area to investigate the attack and its toxic consequences as part of the ongoing environmental disaster imposed on Palestinians living in Gaza.

This investigation marks the launch of the FAI Unit. The first of its kind in the Middle East, the FAI Unit ushers in a new generation of visual investigations for the monitoring and documentation of Israeli war crimes and apartheid.

 

The Khudair Warehouse

Located in Beit Lahiya, the Khudair Warehouse stores roughly 50% of all vital agricultural chemicals used in the besieged strip.

We gathered original photos, interviews, and drone footage, and analysed dozens of images and videos of the site available online, as well as CCTV footage given to us by the Khudair family, in order to construct a 3D model of the warehouse.

    Giphy GIF

The warehouse is composed of six rooms totaling 2,700 square meters and is surrounded by Palestinian homes and agricultural fields

    Giphy GIF

The precise circumstances of the strike were initially unknown as none of the CCTV videos we sourced contained an accurate timestamp. Seeking time indicators, we conducted shadow analysis to determine the approximate time of attack.

    Giphy GIF

We then synchronized the videos to determine the timing of events, and established the time of the first canister to hit the site at around 5:46pm – likely from the south-east.

    Giphy GIF

This was followed by a second canister three seconds later, and at 5:48pm, four other canisters followed. We identified three of these canisters in the interior of the warehouse—landing inside Room 1 and Room 4. By 5:56pm, a plastic stockpile opposite to the south entrance caught fire, and a minute later another fire started inside Room 4.

    Giphy GIF

Photos of munition collected from the site by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights show the remains of cylindrical canisters, around 15cm in width.

    Giphy GIF

The dimensions and the smoke tail match the M150 Smoke HC 155mm ammunition developed by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems: an ‘advanced smoke projectile’ and a new type of shell designed to splinter into five separate canisters, all of which emit high-density smoke.

    Giphy GIF

Munitions experts explained that M150 artillery is designed to create smoke screens to mask troop movement. But on May 15 there were no reported occupation forces on the ground in Beit Lahiya, and thus:

“There is no military justification for the M150 to be used here. It is inherently inaccurate and unsuitable for use in an urban environment.” 

Chris Cobb-Smith

Room 1 contained plastic and nylon sheets, as well as plastic pipes and farming equipment, while Room 2 contained primarily pesticides and fertilisers, including over 18,000 liters of Kontos, a highly toxic and flammable liquid insecticide. Meanwhile, Room 3 contained around forty varieties of chemicals, fertilisers and pesticides, including Ken-Amine Herbicide, Dursban Insecticide, and NPK Fertiliser.

    Giphy GIF

In total, the fire affected over fifty tonnes of hazardous chemicals stored on the site.

 

Toxic Plume

Starting on 13 May, and for a full week thereafter, Abdelsalam Abu Halime, who lives nearby, documented the consequences of Israeli occupation forces’ attacks. On 15 May, at 5:52pm, Abu Halime filmed a thick column of black smoke rising from the Khudair warehouse.

To estimate the reach of the plume, we used meteorological data such as wind direction from the day of the attack, and geolocated two frames of Abu Halime’s footage.

    Giphy GIF

Within the first hour, the toxic plume had affected an area of approximately 5.7 square kilometers— spanning Beit Lahiya and its agricultural zones, as well as the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp— placing approximately 3,000 homes in its shadow.

The Khudair fire continued for six hours, from 5:50pm until 11:00pm, destroying most of the facility and consuming the majority of its contents.

We consulted fluid dynamics expert, who measured the concentration and spread of the hazardous chemicals stored in the warehouse. He explained that the air concentration of some of the chemicals crossed Acute Emergency Levels—or AEGL. Areas hundreds of metres away from the warehouse had sulfur dioxide and phosphorus pentoxide concentrations of above AEGL-2, indicating a high risk of ‘irreversible damage’ to human health.

He stated that: ‘When exposed to several chemical substances at the same time, as with the fire at this Warehouse, toxic emissions have the potential to amplify each other’s impacts.’

We spoke to residents living near the now polluted area who described to us in detail the intense toxic smells their families endured after the shelling— two of the residents living nearby, Israa Khudair and Doaa Khudair, informed us that they both experienced miscarriages shortly after the attack.

 

 

“Because of the intensity of the toxic smell and the smoke, we suffered from stomachache, vomiting and diarrhea. Later I experienced an abnormal pain and, after visiting the doctor, I was informed that I had a miscarriage”.  Watch the video

‘Tantamount to Chemical Weapons’

This strike was the first in an apparent series of punishing attacks by the Israeli occupation forces, deliberately targeting civilian economic infrastructure and the industrial sector.

On 17 May, two days after the Khudair Warehouse was destroyed, the Fomco Sponge Factory near Jabaliya camp was attacked in a similar manner, causing a large-scale fire. On the same day, over half a dozen other factories and warehouses, located in the industrial zone east of Gaza’s Shejaiyyeh neighborhood, were also bombed.

    Giphy GIF

The pattern visible across these strikes suggests that the targeting of the Khudair warehouse was deliberate—this is further supported by the fact an incendiary weapon was used. Each of these bombings exposes Palestinian residents to a range of lethally toxic chemical gases, generating additional long-term health and environmental damage in the besieged strip. 

In a legal report based on the findings of this investigation, Al-Haq states that: ‘Israeli occupation forces’ shelling of the Khudair Agrochemical Warehouse, with knowledge of the presence of toxic chemicals stored therein, is tantamount to chemical weapons through indirect means.

Such acts are clearly prohibited… and prosecutable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.’

 

To read the Detailed Legal Report on Israel’s Khudair Warehouse Chemical Attack on the Gaza Strip supporting Forensic Architecture Investigation please click here

FAI in the press
08، Nov 2024
Al-Haq FAI Unit is featured at the Lisboa Film Festival (LEFFEST) in Lisbon, Portugal
12، Sept 2024
CartaCapital: ‘Estão Atirando em Nossas Sombras’: uma conversa com o coletivo palestino
03، Sept 2024
Gaza: Lawyers challenging UK arms exports to Israel push on with legal fight
15، Aug 2024
The Electronic Intifada: What will stop the genocide in Gaza?
13، Aug 2024
Al-Jazeera: ‘Just civilians’: Families of Gaza school strike victims refute Hamas links
13، Aug 2024
الجزيرة: تحقيق استقصائي يدحض مزاعم الاحتلال بوجود مركز قيادة داخل مصلى مدرسة التابعين
01، Jun 2024
Birzeit University Museum: Collaborative Knowledge Sharing Sessions
09، May 2024
Birzeit University: Symposium on Deconstructing Colonial-Settler Violence
22، Mar 2024
Democracy Now: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation: Eyal Weizman on Gaza
16، Feb 2024
UCSC: Institute of The Arts & Sciences Event: Art, Palestine and Liberation
12، Jan 2024
UCSC: Al-Haq FAI Unit Exhibition Launch - Shooting at Our Shadows
29، Nov 2023
The Guardian: Atrocities in Gaza - What journalists owe the dead
21، Oct 2023
Palestine Chronicle: Who bombed Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital?
20، Oct 2023
Channel 4 News: Investigators raise questions about Gaza hospital explosion
19، Oct 2023
The Electronic Intifada: Biden’s Gaza aid plan - A fig leaf for genocide
14، Oct 2023
The Guardian: Gaza civilians fear leaving home after bombing of “safe” routes
14، Oct 2023
The Guardian: The next stage is coming - Israel warns residents fleeing Gaza
09، May 2023
Al-Shabaka: Harnessing open-source intelligence for Palestinian liberation
09، May 2023
Al-Jazeera: Investigating Israeli occupation violence during raids on the West Bank (Video)
08، May 2023
الجزيرة: تحقيق حول فرقة المستعربين الإسرائيلية
01، Dec 2022
Al-Jazeera: The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh | Fault Lines Documentary (Video)
01، Dec 2022
IDFA: Shireen Abu Akleh - The extrajudicial killing of a journalist
20، Sept 2022
Mondoweiss: New evidence on the targeting of Shireen Abu Akleh
20، Sept 2022
The Art Newspaper: Forensic Architecture reveals evidence in Shireen Abu Akleh’s case
16، Sept 2022
The Washington Post: Al-Haq raid and the targeting of Palestinian NGOs
01، Jun 2022
Jerusalem24: Israeli airstrike on agrochemical warehouse amounts to chemical warfare
29، May 2022
Jerusalem24: Al-Haq launches first Forensic Architecture Investigative Unit in Palestine
28، May 2022
The Guardian: NGO report - Israeli strike akin to chemical weapons
28، May 2022
WAFA: Al-Haq: The shelling of the Khudair warehouse in Gaza is tantamount to chemical warfare by indirect means
12، Apr 2022
Hyperallergic: Forensic Architecture reveals destruction of Palestinian archaeological sites