Gaza families wear ID bracelets to avoid burial in mass graves
text_fields
Gaza: The Palestinian health ministry said at least 6,546 Palestinians including 2,704 children, had been killed by Israeli airstrikes since October 7, when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli settlements, from the Gaza Strip.
Israel has since been bombing the enclave flattening neighbourhoods and vowing to wipe out Hamas.
Amidst numerous casualties, residents in Gaza are burying unidentified victims in mass graves, replacing names with numbers. Some families are resorting to using bracelets, in the hope of finding their loved ones should they be killed.
Ali El-Daba, 40, recalled witnessing bodies being ripped apart by the bombing. To prevent his entire family from dying in a single strike, he decided to divide his family.
While El-Daba ‘s wife Lina, 42, remained with two of their sons and two daughters in Gaza City to the north, he moved to Khan Younis in the south with their three other children.
Also Read:Israel is in the midst of a fight for our existence: Netanyahu
In anticipation of the worst, El-Daba said 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. 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 terror 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 terrorist capabilities of the group, while taking feasible precautions to mitigate the harm to uninvolved civilians."
World leaders have called for a ceasefire and to allow aid into the besieged enclave, which is running out of water, food, fuel and medicines.
A total of 756 Palestinians, including 344 children, were killed in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Wednesday.
