Some Gazans wearing bracelets so loved ones can identify them if they’re killed

With the force of Israeli airstrikes ripping bodies apart, Gazans are having a hard time recognizing those killed and many of the dead are being identified with a number, rather than a name, Reuters reports.

Some parents are writing their children’s names on their legs while others are having them wear unique bracelets so they better spot them.

The El-Daba family tells Reuters they have split up in order to avoid being all killed together in a single airstrike. Other Palestinians have spoken of specifically deciding to sleep together in the same room so that no individual family member will be left to grieve their loved ones on their own if their home is targeted.

Israel says its airstrikes are targeting Hamas terrorists and infrastructure, while recognizing that civilians are sometimes caught in the crossfire.

Thousands are believed to have been killed in the airstrikes, though it’s not clear how many are civilians and how many are combatants.

Gaza families wear ID bracelets to avoid burial in mass graves https://t.co/C6jFnP9pgn

— Nidal al-Mughrabi (@nidalal) October 25, 2023

Israeli authorities have been working nonstop since Hamas’s brutal onslaught on October 7 to identify the bodies of over 1,000 civilians killed, many of whom were burnt to death, beheaded or otherwise mutilated by the invading terrorists. Civilians have been harder to identify than soldiers, and the identification work continues.