IDF officials announced today (Thursday) the ongoing efforts to identify all the soldiers and civilians who were killed during the murderous terrorist attack by Hamas.
Out of 854 civilian bodies that have been accounted for, approximately 361 have been identified, and 264 of them have been buried. Regarding IDF casualties, 222 families have received notifications, and 138 of them have been buried.
According to the military, "IDF casualties - the majority of them have been identified, and notifications have been given to the families. We have set a goal to bury most of them by the start of the Sabbath."
Regarding the civilians, they emphasize, "From the very first day, we understood that this is an event of a different magnitude that the country has never experienced. Therefore, we mobilized and expanded our responsibilities, and we have gathered all the civilians who were killed at the Rabbinate's base.
"This is a task for the Israeli police, as they have the legal authority when a citizen in the country passes away. However, due to the complexity and national significance, as well as the need for swift identification and burial, there is a mobilization of thousands of people from various organizations and ministries: the IDF, the police, the Shin Bet, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Population Registry, and the Institute of Pathology.
They continue to explain, "There are many unprecedented decisions to advance the identification and carry out the mission. If we've identified someone - why not declare their death and bring them for burial? There are several challenges: we don't want to make a mistake and bury someone in the wrong grave. We need to be precise about who we've identified and where we place them."
The condition of the bodies is difficult and with time it does not improve
In the military, they continue to describe the process: "Without going into details and technicalities - the condition of the bodies is difficult, and it doesn't improve over time. In the IDF, we gather all the data for identification: fingerprints, dental records, DNA. For Israeli civilians, even when there is a biometric database, it doesn't provide the police with a 100% identification for burial. In the meantime, for every civilian who served in the IDF and was killed, we have opened our databases to the police, which has expedited the identification process.
"We are assisting the police in building the data. We have photographed their faces, taken fingerprints and DNA samples from all of them. We are also taking dental records for everyone. All of this is done quickly, and we are looking for each step one by one, sources for comparison. Biometric databases, health records, and more."
According to sources in the IDF, there is no other country that has organized such rapid activities. This is the work of thousands of people, all of whom understand the urgency of the situation. The military rabbinate works 24/7, including on the Sabbath, also for non-Jewish casualties, because it is a national mission at this moment.
Even after identification, the process continues because the body needs to be prepared for the funeral. Not all of them meet the appropriate conditions. Some are still abroad, while others, especially from the Gaza envelope, want to wait until after the war to have a funeral with more than 15 people."
It was also reported that the IDF has taken the responsibility to inform the families of the civilians as well. "Anyone who has not been clearly identified by us, we assume that they are missing. Most of the names are known, and we are careful not to inform the families by mistake.
"How we communicate with the civilians - from the very first day, we have 105 people speaking with the civilians, and we have improved our response. For the deceased, we make face-to-face notifications, also for civilians. We have deployed officers to assist the police at this stage.
"There are two operations rooms that we have deployed, one of the intelligence and another of Human Resources, who deal with the issue of captives. It's always lists and crosses with intelligence; there are many changes all the time. So far, we have reached about 97 families whose loved ones are in Gaza, both soldiers and civilians.
"Because IDF soldiers have a database built on the day of enlistment, which includes fingerprints, dental records, identity cards, dog tags, when there is a fallen IDF soldier, the identification process is simpler. It requires two indicators to extract the identification of the fallen and proceed with the burial."
It was also reported that "DNA is taken from the terrorists as well, so if, God forbid, there is no match, perhaps they will look for the body there."
