Israel uses vultures, eagles to locate bodies of those killed by Hamas

• Image Credit: Google

• Nov 9, 2023 | Dhupali Das

Data from carrion-eating birds is helping Israel's army locate corpses around the sites of the...

Digital Desk: Data from carrion-eating birds is helping Israel's army locate corpses around the sites of the October 7 attack by Hamas operatives, said a wildlife expert involved in the project. Eagles, vultures, and other birds of prey fitted with tracking devices have helped in the search for human remains, said Ohad Hatzofe of Israel's Nature and Parks Authority.

"When the war began, I was approached by some reservists serving in that unit. They asked me if my birds could help with something," said Hatzofe.

The idea came from EITAN, a unit within the army's human resources branch in charge of locating missing soldiers.

Hatzofe leads a program that tracks endangered griffon vultures, who mostly feed on dead animals, as well as eagles and other birds of prey, which he claims also consume carrion.

The program has GPS-tracked hundreds of birds in order to study their migratory patterns, feeding habits, and environmental threats they face.

On October 23, one of them, a rare sea eagle that had returned to Israeli skies the day before after spending the summer in northern Russia, was discovered in Beeri, close outside the Gaza Strip.

"I sent my data" to the army, Hatzofe stated.

"They went to verify it and recovered four bodies," he claimed, declining to reveal the location or identity of the deceased.

Beeri, a kibbutz agricultural community, saw 85 residents killed when Hamas operatives rushed across the highly fortified border to carry out the deadliest attack on Israel since its creation in 1948.

According to Israeli authorities, the attack killed around 1,400 people, the majority of whom were civilians.

Israel, vowing to destroy Hamas, replied with a continuous bombardment and ground invasion that has killed more than 10,500 people, largely civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

In Beeri, another 30 people are missing or assumed to be among the approximately 240 hostages seized by Hamas during its attack.

Hatzofe stated that data from a second bird, a Bonelli's eagle, enabled the recovery of "other bodies inside Israel."

Israeli police stated on Monday that they have identified the corpses of 843 civilians and 351 soldiers.

Hundreds of those reported as missing have not been found or identified more than a month after the Hamas attack.

Source: NDTV News