Israel Hasid, ZAKA Tel Aviv spokesperson, spoke to Israel National News - Arutz Sheva from the Shura base where the IDF is receiving the bodies of those murdered in the Hamas attack in Israeli kibbutzes and towns near the Gaza border.
"The IDF has collected all the bodies from the various communities and is concentrating them in three points in the south, from where they take them in trucks and ZAKA ambulances to the Shura Camp, where the identification process begins. All operations are conducted to release the bodies for burial in cemeteries throughout Israel," Hasid explained.
He said he has dealt with many tragedies in the past – but this time it is a particularly unusual event. "The bodies are arriving in huge masses, immense numbers of murdered people and the sorting process is very strict. We are in difficult and shocking situations that are impossible to describe – and the whole procedure is being done in numbers we have never known before."
According to Hasid, the hardest part is dealing with the families who come to identify their loved ones. "It's hard. I'm after 70 hours of work and it's very difficult. Families come and tell us about their children; the heartbreak, the tears and the difficulties that are hard to deal with. It doesn't matter how old you are – dealing with the families breaks everyone. We try to find the strength to cope, to sit, to listen and help as much as we can."
Regarding the identification process, Hasid said: "We leave the identification of the bodies to the military rabbinate and the IDF at the base. There are huge numbers of bodies, so it takes time to release them and bring them to burial. We are making every effort to bring the murdered victims to Jewish burial as quickly as possible."