Direct proof of use
The M996 mortar projectile is documented in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War through two Open Source Munitions Portal entries from Gaza dated 8 June 2024. OSMP 566 and OSMP 567 both classify the items as 120 mm mortar-projectile parts, list their functional use as illumination, identify the tentative model as M996, and mark the condition as delivered and functioned.
OSMP's Israel and Gaza 2023-2026 collection places the M996 entries inside its Gaza-war archive. The same collection states that it includes munitions from Israel and the Gaza Strip from October 2023 and covers weapons allegedly deployed by Israeli forces and Palestinian militant groups. OSMP 567 adds Hebrew and numerical markings, while Elbit Systems Land catalogs M996/M930E1 as a 120 mm illuminating mortar bomb produced in Israel.
Sources: OSMP 566, OSMP 567, OSMP Israel and Gaza Collection, Elbit Mortar Ammunition Portfolio
Dated evidence
Both known M996 records in the OSMP archive are dated 8 June 2024 and reported from Gaza in the Palestinian Territories. The entries do not identify a firing unit, a named operation, or a specific neighborhood; they support battlefield use at the level of recovered or photographed munition parts.
The two records describe the same conflict-use pattern: 120 mm, unguided, surface-to-surface mortar-projectile parts used for illumination. OSMP 566 notes a black base color, obturating rings or gas-check bands, and fixed fins attached to a perforated cylinder; OSMP 567 records white Hebrew and numerical markings, a flat base, and fixed fins.
Sources: OSMP 566, OSMP 567
Battlefield role
The documented role was illumination fire support rather than blast or fragmentation attack. Elbit describes M996/M930E1 as an illuminating mortar bomb with a range up to 7,000 m, more than 50 seconds of illumination, 1 million candela output, and a time fuze; OSMP categorizes the Gaza examples as illumination munitions.
In conflict-use terms, the round would fit night or low-visibility support for observation, movement, and target-area illumination, but the public OSMP entries do not state what tactical event the two Gaza remnants came from or what force requested or fired them.
Sources: Elbit Mortar Ammunition Portfolio, OSMP 566, OSMP 567
