The scenario you describe is plausible.
A historical note: Palestine is known as the weapon testing facility for Israel/US/UK.
During the Nakba was when they tested out biological weapons. Weapons that caused blindness. They poisoned drinking wells. It was the first time that the flamethrower was used against civilian populations. They would burn entire villages, with the people still inside, to the ground.
I think it’s worth a read if you’re interested. The book is called “The ethnic cleansing of Palestine” it’s written by an Israeli and it can only be written by an Israeli because he had access to the military documents that recorded all the atrocities during the Nakba. Including the use of bioweapons.
As you can imagine it was very difficult for me to read this book. My grandparents villages were mentioned multiple times as it was the site of several massacres. In one instance they came at night and placed explosives on the homes to murder everyone in their sleep. The dogs started barking which alerted the villagers and they were able to fight off the Jews. Not before they blew up several homes and murdered over 20 children. One of the homes that was hit was my grandparents. My aunt was alive during that time. She remembers everything.
It’s also why I love dogs. If a dog didn’t bark 75 years ago I wouldn’t exist today.