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Transcript/Script(( PLAYBOOK SLUG: ISRAEL GAZA BURIALS
HEADLINE: Israelis, Palestinians Struggle to Bury the Dead
TEASER: With so many dead, officials struggle to follow religious practice
PUBLISHED: 10/25/23
BYLINE: Linda Gradstein
DATELINE: Tel Aviv
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricki Rosen
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA, AFP, Reuters, AP
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X__ RADIO _X__
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY:
TYPE: TV/R
EDITOR NOTES: Email edits to lindagradstein@gmail.com and rickirosen1@gmail.com;
Web desk, please post camera credit for Ricki Rosen
((INTRO)) [[Jewish and Islamic law both say dead bodies must be treated with respect and mandates that bodies be buried as soon as possible. Observing these precepts with thousands of dead in a war zone is proving to be difficult, as Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Tel Aviv.]]
((NARRATOR))
There are so many bodies – in Israel and in the Gaza Strip.
((Mandatory cg: Kan 11 Israel Television))
It started with a Hamas assault on dozens of communities in southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians.
Now, after more than two weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas, Palestinian health officials say more than 6,400 people have been killed in Gaza Strip, including thousands of women and children.
At the Israel National Forensics Institute, Director Chen Kugel says the Hamas attack was unprecedented.
((Chen Kugel, Abu Kabir Forensic Institute Male (in English), VOA))
“You hardly see these kind of atrocities that we see here. I’m 31 years in forensic pathology and I’ve never seen anything, not in this magnitude and not in this cruelty.”
((VIDEO: COLD STORAGE CONTAINERS AT ARMY BASE FILLED WITH BODY BAGS, AFP))
((VIDEO: FORENSIC PATHOLOGISTS EXAMINE BONES COLLECTED FROM THE HAMAS MASSACRE SITES, VOA))
((NARRATOR))
Almost 1,000 bodies are still in cold storage containers at an army base. Of those, almost 300 have still not been identified. Many bodies were completely burned and can only be identified with DNA, if at all.
[[Radio Cue: Again, Chen Kugel of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.]]
((Chen Kugel, Abu Kabir Forensic Institute (Male (in English), VOA))
“We see people that only 1 kilogram of the body is left and that’s it, because they’re totally burned. And some of them are just pieces.”
((NARRATOR))
The difficult task of identification is especially urgent because Jewish tradition requires a rapid burial. Even before the funeral, the Jewish prayer for the dead, “Kaddish” is recited over bodies collected by Zaka, the Israeli religious organization which retrieves human remains for Jewish burial.
For the soldiers who have been killed, there is an Israeli army unit tasked with handling bodies and preparing burials according to the principles of respect for the dead.
((Ariav Schlesinger, IDF Reserve Soldier (Male, in English), VOA))
((Mandatory cg: Zoom))
“There always needs to be someone with the corpse. You always need to make sure that the corpse is lying on its back completely straight, not in any kind of disrespectful position, completely covered. Unless it’s absolutely necessary to be seeing something on the corpse, then that specific part is revealed.”
((VIDEO: DIGGING BODIES OUT OF RUBBLE IN GAZA, AP))
((NARRATOR))
Meanwhile in Gaza, Palestinians are trying to follow Islamic law as they struggle to bury the thousands of dead.
((Radio Cue: Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei is the head of the Gaza Mental Health Program))
((Yasser Abu Jamei, Gaza Mental Health Program Director, Male (in English), VOA))
((Mandatory cg: Zoom))
“They say that about 1,500 bodies are still trapped under the rubble, this includes about 800 children. Unfortunately, the machinery is not enough to deal with the massive destruction and the lack of fuel is now affecting them. Some of the bodies are already there for more than one week. They are considered dead. Those bodies cannot remain there, they need to be buried.”
((NARRATOR))
He says that according to Islam, bodies must be washed, wrapped in a white cloth, and for mourners to chant Islamic prayers over the bodies before burial. But because of the Israeli airstrikes, many bodies are not whole.
Jamei says there is often no chance of individual graves.
((Radio Cue: Again, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei))
((Yasser Abu Jamei, Gaza Mental Health Program Director (Male (in English), VOA))
((Mandatory cg: Zoom))
“In those cases, the bodies are put in one parcel and they are buried together. In the beginning, in the fourth or fifth day there were tens of bodies that were at Shifa hospital, and there was no proper means to have funerals for everyone.”
((NARRATOR))
In both Judaism and Islam, there is a mourning period when friends and relatives come to offer condolences and reminisce about the person who has died.
As the fighting continues, many on both sides continue to mourn.
(( Linda Gradstein for VOA News, Tel Aviv ))
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Tel Aviv
Embargo DateOctober 26, 2023 06:56 EDT
BylineLinda Gradstein
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
