Associated Press reporting documented Israeli troops using explosive door-entry methods during Gaza house searches and building clearances in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War.
| Claim | Sources |
|---|---|
| Israeli troops used explosive door-entry methods during house-to-house operations in northern Gaza. | Sources: AP northern Gaza detentions |
| An Israeli unit used an explosion to open a Gaza City building entrance during the March 2024 Shifa Hospital raid period. | Sources: AP Gaza City evacuation |
| The broader context was intense Israeli ground operations and detention activity in northern Gaza and Gaza City. | Sources: OCHA Flash Update 65 |
Timeline
AP reported Palestinian accounts of Israeli soldiers going door to door in northern Gaza and blasting open home doors with grenades during searches and detentions.
Sources: AP northern Gaza detentions
AP reported that Israeli troops used an explosion to open a Gaza City building entrance before entering an apartment and ordering residents to leave.
Sources: AP Gaza City evacuation
Door-breaching explosive charges were documented in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War through Associated Press reporting from Gaza. In December 2023, AP reported that Palestinians in northern Gaza described Israeli soldiers going door to door and, in some cases, using a grenade to blast open home doors during searches and detentions.
A second AP report described a March 21, 2024 incident near Gaza City's Shifa Hospital area in which an Israeli unit used an explosion to open a building entrance before entering an apartment and ordering the family inside to leave. The report attributed the account to Heba al-Haddad, whose family then walked south from Gaza City.
Sources: AP northern Gaza detentions, AP Gaza City evacuation
The earliest source in this record is AP's December 14, 2023 report on northern Gaza detentions, which placed explosive door entries within Israeli ground operations in Beit Lahiya, Jabaliya, and Gaza City neighborhoods.
AP's April 2, 2024 report added a later Gaza City example from the Shifa Hospital raid period, describing an early-morning explosive entry into a residential building on March 21, 2024.
Sources: AP northern Gaza detentions, AP Gaza City evacuation
The documented users were Israeli troops operating in Gaza's urban terrain. The sources describe explosive entry as part of house-to-house searches, detentions, and building clearances, not as a named commercial charge model or a detailed technical configuration.
OCHA's December 2023 flash update separately reported intense Israeli ground operations and fighting in Gaza City and northern Gaza, along with detention operations in public spaces, shelters, and private homes. That context helps place the AP-described door entries within the wider ground campaign, but AP provides the direct weapon-use evidence for this record.
Sources: AP northern Gaza detentions, AP Gaza City evacuation, OCHA Flash Update 65
