Naming Gaza’s Dead: Doctors and Families Struggle as Israel Blocks DNA Tools by Yasmin Abu Shammala

According to Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Ministry of Health’s Information Unit, the teams are doing the impossible with almost nothing. “Bodies arrive in groups, sometimes dozens at a time,” he told QNN. “We document, photograph, and tag every one, but without proper equipment or labs, we rely on what little we have.” Families are given five days to identify their loved ones, five days between recognition and disappearance. After that, the unnamed are buried, their graves marked by coded numbers and hand-drawn coordinates on scraps of paper, a fragile attempt at order in a place where even death has lost its peace.

According to al-Wahidi, the Strip has received 270 bodies from Israel, most of them still without names. Only 76 have been identified so far. “The rest remain unknown,” al-Wahidi told QNN. “We’ve already buried more than 520 unidentified bodies.” Every body is tagged, photographed, and cataloged, every ring, piece of fabric, and trace of identity documented like evidence from a crime scene.

… The officials who spoke to QNN said the world’s response has been “disappointing and shameful.” Requests for forensic support were ignored. Appeals to international organizations were left unanswered. “This is Gaza’s reality,” said al-Thawabta. “Even the process of death is under siege.”