[News] Polish company accused of supplying explosives for Israel’s war on Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

News <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/>


  Polish company accused of supplying explosives for Israel’s war on Gaza

/An investigation claims state-owned Nitro-Chem provides TNT for Mk 80 
series bombs and BLU-109 bombs./

Civil defense teams and civilians conduct a search and rescue operation 
under the rubble of demolished buildings after Israeli bombardment at 
Jabalia refugee camp
Israel is known to have used unguided bombs of the Mk 80 series in the 
bombing of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp in November 2023, which could 
amount to a war crime [File: Fadi Alwhidi/Anadolu Agency]

By Federica Marsi <https://www.aljazeera.com/author/marsif>

Published On 18 Nov 2025

A Polish state-owned company has been accused of playing a crucial role 
in aiding Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, providing a key explosive used 
in bombs and artillery that have been widely deployed in the Strip.

A report released on Tuesday by a group of pro-Palestinian organisations 
found the explosives maker Nitro-Chem to have supplied United States 
arms companies with trinitrotoluene (TNT) for use in military shells, 
bombs, and grenades that are exported to Israel, a top US ally.

Poland, the only major TNT producer in the EU and NATO, was identified 
by the People’s Embargo for Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, 
Shadow World Investigations and Movement Research Unit as the source of 
the explosive used in the general-purpose Mk 80 series – among the most 
common air-dropped weapons in the world – as well as the penetrator 
BLU-109 bomb.

“This report decisively implicates Nitro-Chem and the Polish government 
as a critical link in facilitating the supply chain of genocide,” Nadya 
Tannous, an organiser with the Palestinian Youth Movement, told Al Jazeera.

Air-dropped bombs are typically filled with an explosive mix of TNT and 
aluminium powder. Ninety percent of TNT imported by the US – where there 
is no domestic production – comes from Poland, the report found. 
Nitro-Chem has also been selling explosives, including TNT, directly to 
Israel, according to the report.

While UN experts have found Israel to be committing genocidal acts in 
Gaza and called on all states to fulfil their legal obligations under 
the Genocide Convention, the report is evidence of Poland’s role “in the 
massacre of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians”, said Tannous.


    Surviving Israeli bombs in Gaza

Since launching its latest war on Gaza in October 2023, following the 
Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel, the Israeli army has relied 
heavily on guided and unguided Mk 80 bombs sold by General Dynamics, the 
world’s fifth-largest weapons manufacturer.

Video evidence of unexploded Mk 84 bombs – the largest of the series – 
with markings indicating that the bomb was produced by General Dynamics 
– confirms that they have been used in the Strip.

Israel is known to have used unguided bombs of the Mk 80 series in the 
targeting of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, 2023, which 
could amount to a war crime, 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/2/un-rights-office-says-israeli-attacks-on-jabalia-could-be-war-crime> 
according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

These were also converted into guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions 
(JDAMs), such as the one used to strike civilian homes in Deir el-Balah 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2024/10/10/dozens-killed-in-israeli-strikes-on-the-displaced-in-gaza> 
on October 10, 2023. Amnesty International, which investigated that 
attack, called the strikes unlawful and tantamount to a war crime.

According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel dropped more than 
25,000 tonnes of explosives on the Strip – equivalent to two nuclear 
bombs – in the first month of the war.

As fighting intensified, Mahmoud (*not his real name) was sleeping 
alongside his wife and children in their home in southern Gaza when a 
loud explosion shook the earth. The walls collapsed on them, and a fire 
broke out among the rubble. The family was rescued and taken to the 
hospital.

“After I left the hospital, I didn’t have any shoes, so I walked 
barefoot on the pieces of glass, rubble, cement and metal,” he said. “I 
didn’t feel anything, I just stood there for hours and stared at the 
pile of rubble that, a few hours ago, was our home.”

Thirteen of his relatives were killed in the bombing, including seven 
children. Mahmoud has since been able to leave Gaza and relocate to 
Europe with the surviving members of his family.

Footage from the scene shows shrapnel compatible with the Mk 80 bomb 
series, according to military analysts. Al Jazeera is withholding 
details of the incident, as well as of the survivor’s identity, to 
reduce the risk of reprisal or retaliation.

While the family is now miles away, the memories of what they 
experienced in Gaza have followed them.

“The bombing has been haunting our family every day since. It left all 
of us traumatised,” Mahmoud said.

Finding out that Poland likely provided the explosive that tore his 
family apart has left him shaken.

“I feel sadness and disappointment that a country, which advocates for 
human rights and humanitarianism, has forgotten that there are human 
beings in the Gaza Strip bombed every day – humans no different than 
people in Europe,” he said.

“These bombs are used mainly to [target] residential homes, tents made 
out of plastic sheets, civilian infrastructure … They have a wide 
effect, they are not precise, and they destroy everything around,” 
Mahmoud continued.

The Mk 84 has enormous destructive capacity, with a lethal radius of 
about 360 metres (about 1,180 feet) and an injury radius of up to 800 
metres (2,625 feet) from the point of detonation.

“How is it possible that Poland agrees to produce and sell explosive 
material, knowing it will be used against civilians?” he said.

Al Jazeera has contacted Nitro-Chem and representatives of the Polish 
government for comment.


    Polish TNT for American bombs

General Dynamics has been sourcing TNT for Mk 80 series bomb production 
from Nitro-Chem since at least 2016.

Polish-made TNT also ended up in the penetrator BLU-109 bomb, which can 
destroy underground and heavily fortified targets, according to 
information provided to the authors of the report by the bomb’s US 
manufacturer, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS), 
the Polish company Nitro-Chem and US government databases.

The company’s dealings with the US and Israel have continued despite the 
International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering emergency measures 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/26/live-icj-to-issue-preliminary-ruling-in-south-africa-genocide-case-against-i> 
in January 2024 to prevent genocidal acts and recognising genocide as a 
plausible risk.

In April 2024, Nitro-Chem signed a contract with Paramount Enterprises 
International to supply TNT for Mk 80 series bombs and, shortly after, 
the US government approved the transfer of 1,800 Mk 84 bombs to Israel.

Most recently, in April 2025, the company signed its largest contract 
yet – worth $310m – for the delivery of 18,000 tonnes of TNT in between 
2027 and 2029, the report found.


    Destruction from Poland to Gaza

The US does not make TNT, a toxic substance that has grave environmental 
impacts and is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a 
possible carcinogen.

In Poland, the Supreme Audit Office found Nitro-Chem’s TNT contributed 
to the pollution of the country’s largest and most ecologically 
significant river, the Vistula. Polish media accused the company of 
disposing of toxic waste in illegal dumping sites.

In Gaza, two years of conflict have caused unprecedented levels of 
environmental damage, damaging its soil, freshwater supplies and 
coastline, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Much of Gaza’s vegetation has been destroyed, rendering food production 
minimal at a time when famine threatens more than 500,000 people. About 
80 percent of Gaza’s estimated 250,000 buildings have been damaged or 
destroyed, generating 61 million tonnes of debris, UNEP found. According 
to the agency, it will take decades to reverse the damage.

Tannous, one of the report’s authors, expressed hope that public 
pressure might prompt the government in Warsaw to change course. 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/23/shipping-giant-maersk-divests-from-companies-linked-to-israeli-settlements>

“Now, as the masses of people in Europe rise in their millions to end 
government complicity in Israel’s genocide, we call on Poland to end its 
shipment of Nitro-Chem TNT to Israel,” she said.

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