In order to identify the many murdered, the Israeli government, in a telephone poll and as part of the emergency regulations, authorized the police to use the biometric database of the State of Israel in order to help identify the victims.
Nitzan Yaakov looking for her two missing sisters and nephew // Photo: Noam (Dabol) Dvir
Until now, according to the law, the police could use police and IDF databases to identify bodies and missing persons, but the law does not allow them to access the Interior Ministry's biometric identification databases. Now, in light of the hundreds of bodies of those killed in the war, emergency measures are needed to massively identify masses of dead. The police have begun summoning people to administer DNA, but this is a process that takes a long time.
Urgency is needed in light of the events
The explanatory notes to the law described the numbers of dead and wounded, 700 and 2000, respectively, and stated: "As of today, without receiving information from the Ministry of the Interior's database, if no match is found to the police database and the IDF database, the identification of the unknown person will be done by means of DNA identification, which is a longer and more complicated procedure, since a DNA profile must be derived from the person's sample, and sometimes when dealing with a missing person, a DNA profile must first be obtained from his relatives. This procedure takes a long time, or using a tooth bite, which is also a cumbersome and lengthy identification process that requires finding tooth bite photographs and performing a comparison that takes longer."
"It should be noted that the technological systems of the Israel Police for fingerprint identification (TA) have precise technological capabilities and are much more developed than the systems of the Ministry of the Interior. In addition, the fingerprint experts of the Israel Police, who deal with identifying a person in a routine manner, are skilled at the highest level in carrying out the aforesaid. Hence the importance of transferring the information from the Interior Ministry's biometric database to the Israel Police."
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In addition, we noted in the explanation that there is a need to obtain images from the biometric database in order to identify prisoners or missing persons who were documented, and comparison with other databases or sources from which the police are entitled to receive information did not provide identification with the required level of certainty and urgency in light of the events.
"In light of the terrorist attack on the State of Israel and the large number of murdered, wounded, missing and captives, and the urgent and critical need to provide as clear a picture as possible regarding the identification of the murdered, wounded and missing, both to decision makers and to the families of the victims, there is a vital and urgent need for the possibility of transferring information from the biometric database at the Ministry of the Interior to the Israel Police in order to identify the murdered, missing, unknown persons and captives."
The proposed regulations, they explain, will allow the Biometric Database Management Authority to provide the police with identification results, as well as means or biometric data for the purpose of verifying or clarifying the identity of a person whose identity is unknown or doubtful, as well as for locating missing persons or prisoners.
In order to prevent misuse of the regulations, it is written that: "The request must include the details of the police officer requesting the information as well as the type of information requested as necessary in that concrete case. The result of identification or biometric means or data and the type of biometric means requested. This section is intended to ensure that the transfer of information does not infringe on a person's privacy to the extent required."
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