“WIRED is obsessed with what comes next, the technology-focused Condé Nast publication tells readers. “Through rigorous investigations and game-changing reporting, we tell stories that don’t just reflect the moment—they help create it.”
Its May/June cover story, “The Impossible Search for Gaza’s Missing,” most certainly embodies obsessiveness. Zealously curating a robust range of anti-Israel propaganda, writer Mahmoud Mushtaha does not settle only for boilerplate anti-Israel accusations including genocide and starvation, which he parrots with zero consideration and acknowledgment of counterevidence.
In particular, and most alarming for a publication which prides itself on both rigorous investigation and technological expertise, is his allegation that the bodies of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip “have been effectively ‘evaporated’ by extreme-heat munitions, leaving no recoverable bodies.”
Poof. And, like that, WIRED‘s credibility as a trustworthy technology publication vanishes into thin air. Mushtaha’s game-changing cover story does indeed help create the moment. To be clear, it’s the moment in readers can no longer trust anything WIRED writes.
The outlandish anti-Israel accusation originated with Hamas and was amplified, with zero evidence or logic, by Al Jazeera, which reports (“Israel used weapons in Gaza which made thousands of Palestinians evaporate,” Feb. 10, 2026):
According to the Al Jazeera Arabic investigation, The Rest of the Story, Civil Defence teams in Gaza have documented 2,842 Palestinians who have “evaporated” since the war began in October 2023, leaving behind no remains other than blood spray or small fragments of flesh.
Experts and witnesses attributed this phenomenon to Israel’s systematic use of internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, often referred to as vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating temperatures exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius [6,332 degrees Fahrenheit].
Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal explained to Al Jazeera that teams use a “method of elimination” at strike sites. “We enter a targeted home and cross-reference the known number of occupants with the bodies recovered,” Basal said.
“If a family tells us there were five people inside, and we only recover three intact bodies, we treat the remaining two as ‘evaporated’ only after an exhaustive search yields nothing but biological traces—blood spray on walls or small fragments like scalps,” he added.
Neither Al Jazeera nor WIRED disclose that the civil defense teams which “documented” the alleged “evaporation” of 2,842 people are part of Hamas, the designated terror organization which is responsible for starting the ruinous war with Israel. Accepting Hamas’ unverified allegation as fact, WIRED ignores that the Israeli military emphatically denied the accusation about a “vaporizing” weapon. The IDF stated (“IDF’s Response to Al Jazeera’s False Claim of the Evaporation of Gazan Bodies,” Feb. 15, 2026):
The IDF firmly rejects the claims cited. These allegations originate from a “media outlet” that openly supports a terrorist organization designated worldwide as a jihadist terror group. The IDF uses only lawful munitions. The aerial bombs employed by the IDF are standard munitions used by other militaries around the world. As a rule, the IDF does not comment on the use of specific types of munitions.
We emphasize that, as part of the fighting, the IDF operates to defend the security of the State of Israel and its civilians by striking military objectives, with the aim of dismantling Hamas’ military capabilities. The IDF strikes military targets and objectives in accordance with international law and takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian property to the extent possible.
Furthermore, Al Jazeera/Hamas claim that the evidence that such a weapon was used is based on what it calls “grim forensic accounting.” (Emphasis added.) Meanwhile, the WIRED article argues that there are no forensics tools in the Gaza Strip, stating: “Gaza, though, has been a kind of forensic desert for years now. It is a territory that has been systematically denied the tools required to name its dead.” Writing for WIRED, Mushtaha continues:
When Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza beginning in 2007, it soon placed those tools—for toxicology testing, genetic analysis, DNA testing, and even fingerprint and biometric scanners—on a list of “dual use” items, which the government says can also be used for military purposes. There is little transparency in this realm. An official list of blocked goods used to be available online, but archived versions have not been updated since 2020, and it’s been subject to change. In addition to specific items, Israel bars whole categories of things, like “communications equipment”.
In all this chaos, amid the collapse of official documentation systems, no single institution can authoritatively say how many people are missing in Gaza . . . .
But Israel, for decades, has effectively prevented the Ministry of Health in Gaza from establishing a forensic lab, classifying nearly all of the tools necessary to do so as potentially dangerous. . . .
“Gaza has no biometric database—no fingerprints, no dental records, no DNA profiles,” Hamada said. “Even if we had machines, we would have nothing to compare against.”
It cannot be both true that Al Jazeera/Hamas carried out a legitimate forensic accounting which confirmed the existence of a sci-fi like vaporization weapon and also true that, as WIRED reports, zero forensic tools are available in the Gaza Strip. Which one is it?
A rigorous investigation carried out by a publication with the combined resources of both Condé Nast and “Just Vision,” which was a partner for the article, should have been able to ask the probing questions raised by a skeptical, critically thinking blogger who rips apart the Al Jazeera/Hamas methodology:
What are the chances with any explosion that there will be three intact bodies and two completely incinerated? Practically zero. With conventional explosives it is almost impossible to have full incineration – there is a very high temperature but it lasts for a very short time which isn’t enough to make bodies disappear. And for thermobaric explosions, it is extremely unlikely that three bodies would be intact and two evaporated in an enclosed area.
The critical analysis by blogger Elder of Ziyon also points out that the only weapons which Al Jazeera names to support its allegation of the existence of non-conventional weapons are all conventional weapons. That’s a rather noteworthy investigative anomaly.
In short, an appropriate way of reporting the Al Jazeera/Hamas allegation might have looked like this: “Without providing any actual evidence, Hamas has alleged that others have been effectively ‘evaporated’ by science-fiction like extreme-heat munitions, leaving no recoverable bodies, an allegation which the Israeli military has emphatically denied.”
The article, produced in partnership with Palestine Reporting Lab, a project of Just Vision, helps create the moment when unrestrained advocacy reporting goes mainstream, at the expense of ethical, truthful reporting.
For a publication which prides itself on “comprehensive testing on products, services, and software to write in-depth reviews and buying guides,” WIRED failed dismally in its due diligence on Palestine Reporting Lab’s pro-Hamas advocacy. What does this say about the publication’s reviews of everything from internet routers and air purifiers to security cameras and sex tech? Buyer beware.