In a now roofless, burnt-out house on kibbutz Be’eri, an Israeli archaeological team is sifting through ash and rubble.
They are searching for human remains, hoping to identify victims who are still missing a month after the deadly Hamas attack.
Be’eri was one of the communities worst hit by Hamas gunmen who stormed the Israel-Gaza border on October 7, killing about 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli calculations.
Twisted and crushed cars still line the kibbutz’s path, some houses are charred, others are riddled with bullets.
Children’s bicycles are still scattered among the debris, broken glass and unexploded bullets.
In Be’eri, as in the neighboring villages of Kfar Aza and Nir Oz, gunmen shot families sheltering in their safe rooms and set houses on fire. They also set fire to cars at a music festival where 260 people died.
Rescue teams found charred bodies in various locations, but with so many people missing, the Israeli army two weeks ago called in archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to help with a thorough and painstaking search.
Israeli archaeological teams are sifting through ash and rubble.REUTERS Be’eri is one of the communities worst hit by Hamas gunmen who stormed the Israel-Gaza border.AFP via Getty Images Rescuers found burnt bodies in various locations.REUTERS
So far they have helped identify 10 victims, they said, leaving an estimated 25 people still unaccounted for.
“We go into the burning houses,” says archaeologist Joe Uziel, “looking for even the smallest evidence that can help us identify the missing individual, whether it’s personal items like jewelry and the like or the remains of broken bones. . by the heat.”
Aided by the soldiers, the experts divided the area into search zones as they would on an excavation, and began searching and sifting.
It’s not easy, Uziel said.
The Israel-Hamas War: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launched a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches its biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early morning ambush on Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
The terrorists killed over 1,400 Israelis, injured over 4,200, and took at least 200 hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly announced, “We are at war,” and promised Hamas would pay “an unprecedented price.”
Gaza’s Ministry of Health – which is controlled by Hamas – reports at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
“Mixed feelings: do you want to find something or you don’t want to find something. Because if you find something it means you have determined that someone is gone and at the same time, not finding someone means they remain in this state of not knowing.”
“As hard as this is,” he added, “it’s satisfying to know that maybe we can bring some help and closure to this family that has lost so much.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
