More than 1,400 people were murdered in the brutal terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 in the communities near the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. Many Israelis were murdered during the attack while trying to escape the terrorists, and their bodies were "scattered" on the ground, sometimes even in hiding places or areas with bushes that hide them.
The harsh reality has led the IDF's missing persons unit, Eitan, to continue searching for the bodies even more than a month after the horrific massacre, sometimes even under fire. The person who was exposed to this difficulty was Lt. Col. (res.) and JNF member Nissim Magnagi, who enlisted as a reserve soldier in IDF forces in the south, who one day worked with members of the unit. So, he came up with an idea that could make the search easier—by detecting large gatherings of birds of prey in combat zones. The commander of Eitan was impressed by the idea, and contacted the relevant authorities in order to assist him in the unusual monitoring of the birds of prey active in the area.
Documentation of the chaos at the nature party near Kibbutz Reim, last month
"During the winter, tens of thousands of birds of prey arrive in Israel throughout the Negev, including the Gaza envelope," Yaron Cherka, KKL-JNF's chief birder, told Israel Hayom. "Although there is fighting in this area and it is not the most convenient thing for these birds, many of them still arrive in the area, which constitutes a real potential for identifying body locations by tracking the birds."
Cerka explains that locating the bodies in this way is done by patrolling the area and identifying a place where there is a conspicuous gathering of birds. "In some cases, it was possible to identify a body due to the fact that the raptor next to it had a GPS transmitter, so we saw that he was staying in one place for a long time. Since such a detection device is very expensive, only a few birds of prey carry it, so the activity of the unit and of JNF and Nature and Parks Authority officials is simply to search for places where there is a large gathering of raptors," he elaborated. "These birds have very good vision, and when they spot a carcass or a cluster of other birds, they will come to that place. All you have to do is simply patrol the area, look for significant bird activity on the ground or in the air, and thus locate the location of a corpse."
Some of the bodies found using this method belonged to Hamas terrorists, but its importance is great, since this is how a number of bodies of murdered Israelis were found, and later identified and buried. "In many cases, we can't find the bodies on the ground, especially if they're hidden or in a place we don't think they'll be, but the sharp vision of the birds of prey, flying high in the air, recognizing them and landing nearby, helps us a lot," Cherka concluded.
"The forces are looking for large gatherings." Yaron Cherka,
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us