They search for human remains, leaf and feather every burned house in the Kibbutz Berry. Groups of Israelis archaeologists are searching the ashes and debris in hopes of identifying victims whose fate remains unknown a month after her deadly attack Hamas.
Berri is one of the communities hardest hit by Hamas gunmen who invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostage, according to Israeli officials.
Charred cars with sheet metal melted by the heat are still found on some kibbutz paths, some houses have been destroyed by flames, others have bullet holes. Children’s bicycles lie among rubble, broken glass, and even unexploded ordnance.
In Beri, as well as in the neighboring villages of Kfar Aza and Nir Oz, the gunmen shot families who had taken refuge in the special security rooms of their homes and set fire to their homes. They also torched vehicles at a music festival where 260 people died.
Rescue teams found charred bodies in several places, but as many people are still missingthe Israeli army asked archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Agency (IAA) two weeks ago to help with the investigations.
“It’s a mixed feeling… you want to find something and you don’t want to find something”
So far they have helped identify 10 victimsthey say, with the number of missing now estimated at 25.
“We went into burned-out houses,” said archaeologist Joe Uziel, “looking for even the tiniest clue that could help us identify people who are missing, whether it’s personal items like jewelry or bone fragments broken by the heat.”
With the help of the soldiers, the experts divided the areas into blocks, as they would in an excavation, and began the search and sifting.
It was not easy, Uziel pointed out and as the Athens News Agency reports: “It’s a mixed feeling: you want to find something and you don’t want to find something. Because if you find something, that means you’ve verified that someone died, and at the same time, not finding someone means that people continue to not know about them.” “As hard as this is,” he added, “it gives you some relief that maybe you can give some help and answers to these families who have lost so much.”
Source: News Beast
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