Mass burials have been authorised by local Muslim clerics. Before burial, medics keep pictures and blood samples of the dead and give them numbers
GAZA CITY — Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves with a number in place of a name because of the thousands of casualties there as a result of the incessant Israeli air strikes on civilian targets in the impoverished and the besieged strip. bombardment.
In an effort to locate their loved ones in the event of their death, some families are now making use of bracelets with names, according to locals in Gaza.
The El-Daba family has made an effort to lessen their chance of being hit during the most intense Israeli assault of Gaza to date. The bombing, according to 40-year-old Ali El-Daba, tore apart victims that were unrecognisable.
He said he decided to divide his family to prevent them from all dying in a single strike. He said his wife Lina, 42, kept two of their sons and two daughters in Gaza City in the north and he moved to Khan Younis in the south with three other children.
El-Daba said he was preparing for the worst. He bought blue string bracelets for his family members and tied them around both wrists. “If something happens,” he said, “this way I will recognise them.”
Other Palestinian families were also buying or making bracelets for their children or writing their names on their arms.
Mass burials have been authorised by local Muslim clerics. Before burial, medics keep pictures and blood samples of the dead and give them numbers.
The Israeli military has told people to leave the north of the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely-populated places in the world, and head south because it is safer. But air strikes have hit across the Hamas-ruled enclave.
An Israeli military spokesperson said: “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has been encouraging residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move southward and not to stay in the vicinity of Hamas targets within Gaza City.”
“But, ultimately, Hamas has entrenched itself among the civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip. So wherever a Hamas target arises, the IDF will strike at it in order to thwart the capabilities of the group, while taking feasible precautions to mitigate the harm to uninvolved civilians.” — Agencies
