#BURN VICTIMS HANDS FULL#

Although he admits that, given the circumstances, it’s difficult to ascertain whether they were decapitated before or after death, as well as how they were beheaded, “whether cut off by knife or blown off by RPG,” he explained. Many bodies, including those of babies, are without heads.Īsked if they were decapitated, Kugel answered yes. Kugel also explained that the age range of the victims spans from 3 months to 80 or 90 years old.

The single mercy, Kugel said-if there is one to be found-is that the burned victims likely died from carbon monoxide and soot inhalation before the fire killed them. … We know they were burned alive because there is soot in their trachea, their throats-meaning they were still breathing when set on fire.” “Many have gunshot wounds in their hands, showing they put their hands up to their faces in defense. “The proportion of bodies we’ve received who are charred is high,” Kugel explained. Chen Kugel, head of the National Center for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, speaks to the press, Oct. I’ve seen many things in my 31-year career, but the magnitude and the cruelty is terrible,” Kugel added.ĭr.

#BURN VICTIMS HANDS FULL#

And when I go to the Shura camp and see containers like you’d see at the port-but they’re all full of bodies… And you hear the stories-that behind their charred bodies, something terrible happened-it’s very difficult. “But then you learn the stories and connect to the people. Chen Kugel, the head of Abu Kabir, told The Media Line. “When you do this job downstairs, you get detached,” Dr. I’ve seen many things in my 31-year career, but the magnitude and the cruelty is terrible Two spinal cords-one belonging to an adult, one to someone young-most likely a parent and child -bound together by metal wires in a final embrace before being set alight. The pair were likely embracing as they burned. Two spinal columns can be seen in the scan. Among the images were those of charred hands with marks that revealed where the victims’ hands were bound behind their backs with metal wire before being burned alive.Ĭharred remains and a CT scan of the remains show an adult and a child who were bound together and burned alive by Hamas terrorists on Oct. Despite every effort to remain objective and detached-as called for by the profession-many broke down into tears throughout the day.ĭuring the initial press conference, the forensics team showed images from their investigations. In light of the growing international interest in (and denials of) the Palestinian terror group Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel, representatives of the global press were invited to see the horrors for themselves.įorensic pathologists, including Israeli staffers as well as volunteers from abroad, were visibly disturbed by the evidence before them. The smell of rotting human remains, much of which was completely unrecognizable as human due to the brutality of the attack, was at times too much to bear. Stifling the urge to retch became a difficult task as I walked through the lower levels of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) in Tel Aviv.

International press invited to review forensic evidence of the terror group’s October 7 massacre

Burn victims hands