Questions over huge late-night explosion in Occupied Palestinian Territories

A huge explosion and fireball rocked Beit Shamesh in the Occupied Palestinian Territories late on Saturday, 16 May.

Residents near Israel’s Beit Shemesh area reported a loud explosion and large fire visible from afar.

Israel’s Kan News later claimed the incident was a controlled explosion carried out inside a civilian factory. No injuries or damage were reported. pic.twitter.com/FyHLPmoaeZ

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) May 16, 2026

The explosion reportedly took place at Sdot Micha Air Base, which Tomer, an Israeli government-owned weapons and defence company, has previously used to test weapons.

The mysterious massive explosion apparently occurred at a test engine facility inside the highly secretive Israeli Sidot Micha base, located at 31°46’24.08″N 34°53’47.93″E.

A similar explosion took place at the same facility in 2021 during an Israeli rocket engine test. https://t.co/qw89XZf0rR pic.twitter.com/XPfmv3qzrV

— Egypt’s Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) May 16, 2026

Tomer claimed the blast was a “planned controlled experiment”.

However, the official narrative has raised more questions than it has answered.

I don’t know what just happened in Beit Shemesh, but this is in no way a “controlled explosion”. What kind of controlled explosion that powerful in a “sensitive zone” happens in the middle of the night without notifying residents? Israel is lying again pic.twitter.com/jszyq6Mk2K

— Hadi (@HadiNasrallah) May 16, 2026

Beit Shamesh — ‘Intentional’

For a start, most Western media outlets have pretty much ignored the story, which is an immediate red flag. We already know that Israel has strict censorship laws in place, especially surrounding military sites. Israel even detains journalists who violate the censorship regulations. Additionally, Israel requires journalists to submit visual materials such as photos and videos in advance for approval.

Presumably, there is very little footage because the explosion happened at an Israeli military base.

However, in recent months, all Western media outlets ever bang on about is Israel and antisemitism (ahem, BBC). So why the sudden silence when social media is filled with videos of a huge explosion in central Israel? Something doesn’t add up.

Next, why was an “intentional” and “planned test” carried out so late at night, without warning residents?

Where was the warning to settlers? Don’t God’s chosen people deserve a warning?

Warnings and alerts would have been issued to the settlers had it been a controlled demolition. They have received them for demolitions in the north and Gaza.

This city was pounded repeatedly during the war from Iran. It has 2 bases that contain Jericho ICBMS that carry nukes. https://t.co/KMAZ844lrh

— Jawad (@levantupdates) May 16, 2026

Israel usually warns illegal settlers when it tests or detonates weapons. Yet Israel did not warn residents in Beit Shemesh. Why didn’t it this time?

There are also reports on social media that ambulances and other emergency services were blocked from attending the scene.

Additionally, the Jerusalem Post reported the circulating theory that the explosion may have destroyed a stockpile of surface-to-air missiles belonging to Arrow 3, an anti-ballistic missile defence system.

Tomer

Tomer is an Israeli government-owned defence company that provides:

a national knowledge center for the State of Israel, Tomer develops and manufactures rocket systems used in air, land, and naval weapon systems used by Israel’s Ministry of Defense (MOD), Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and foreign armed forces. Among these weapon systems are rocket motors of the Arrow missiles, Shavit satellite launchers, ELRAD air defense systems, and artillery rockets.

A previous analysis by the Independent suggests that the Tomer tests weapons at the Sdot Micha Air Base.

Israeli media previously quoted Tomer after a similar blast at the site in 2021. It said it was a “controlled test” with “no exceptional circumstances”.

Tomer has also claimed that the:

angle and darkness of videos amplified the explosion’s visual force.

Importantly, though, Tomer is responsible for many of the weapons which the IOF has used in its genocides in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Sdot Micha — Beit Shamesh

Sdot Micha is an IOF Air Force missile base and depot in the Occupied Palestinian territories, in the Jerusalem district. It spans around 13km from southeast to northwest.

The base illegally occupies land on which the villages of Al-Burayj, Sejed, Jilya, and Qazaza were located before the Nakba in 1948.

The base houses at least three different IOF squadrons and operates Jericho intermediate-range (IRBM) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). It also maintains Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 missile batteries. A separate, high-security area northwest of these positions contains four bunkers for warhead storage.

Experts also suspect that Sdot Micha houses nukes. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute:

Up to 50 warheads are thought to be assigned for delivery by land-based Jericho ballistic missiles, although the Israeli government has never publicly confirmed that it possesses the missiles. The missiles are believed to be located, along with their mobile transporter-erector-launchers (TELs), in caves or bunkers at Sdot Micha Airbase near Zekharia, about 25 kilo­metres west of Jerusalem.

As usual, the official Israeli narrative raises more questions than it answers.

It’s also pretty ironic that Israel and the US have been so paranoid about Iran developing nuclear weapons. Yet, here it is, conducting random explosions that may or may not be tests.

How ironic that Israel is so paranoid about Iran getting nuclear weapons, and here it is, conducting random “explosions” and no one knows what the hell is going on. Pure hypocrisy.

— Amira Nour (@Amira_Nour8) May 16, 2026

The only thing tightly controlled about this explosion is the narrative, which is pretty standard for the Jewish-supremacist ethnostate.

Feature image via HG