'The smell of death and burnt bodies': an American helped search for the bodies of Israelis killed by Hamas

Israeli-American Tomer Peretz came to Israel to visit relatives ahead of the deadly Hamas attack. He became a volunteer and helped with the aftermath of the terrorist attack. Peretz was shocked by the level of atrocities and barbarity of the terrorists, reports New York Post.

Photo: IStock

When Israeli-American artist Tomer Peretz booked flights for himself and his two young sons from Los Angeles to Israel for his cousin's wedding, he was looking forward to a fun time with close family and friends.

He planned to play music, dance and laugh with loved ones he hadn't seen in a long time.

But a few days after his arrival, everything changed. Hamas carried out a surprise terrorist attack in the early hours of October 7 that killed more than 1400 Israelis and prompted the country to declare war on the terrorist group.

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Peretz, 41, was not just scared and shocked by the attack - he also felt an obligation to help his countrymen.
He immediately became a volunteer at Zakah, the country's rescue and restoration organization.

Mutilated corpses

However, nothing could prepare him for what would happen next. He was assigned to a highly specialized unit responsible for clearing corpses after a Hamas attack. He went to Kibbutz Be'eri, where more than 100 people, including infants, were tortured and killed.

The bodies of victims he personally found included burned babies, a woman who had been "shot about 20 times in the face," innocent men and elderly people.

“Everything was kind of blown up, there was no face,” Peretz said of the woman who was shot.

“We picked up body parts, like hands... My team picked up a burnt child with an ax in his head. My group leader put the baby in the bag,” Peretz says.

He said his job was to find burnt, bloody corpses, then wrap them in plastic, then write the person's house number with a marker and put them in special bags.

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The body bags are then placed in a refrigerated truck and handed over to the military.

"We don't know what the military will do next with the bodies, but I assume that's when the DNA testing process will begin," said Peretz, who returned to the U.S. with his sons a week ago.

Beeri, a kibbutz or community farm, has a total of 1100 residents. It is close to the border wall with the Gaza Strip, which Hamas broke through to launch the attack.

Hamas militants roamed the Be'eri area, shooting locals, setting houses on fire and killing those who tried to escape the smoke and flames. They killed more than 120 people, including children, and kidnapped some.

The Israeli military was the first to discover the atrocities as they inspected what remained of the houses and buildings to ensure there were no bombs and to gather information about the victims.

Zaka's specialist unit was then called in to do the gruesome but important work.

Peretz said he personally handled at least 40 bodies and saw more than 100 in the three and a half days he volunteered before returning to the United States.

“Sometimes we didn't know if they were brothers or terrorists, but we always treated them like brothers because you never want to make a mistake,” he said. “Even if they were terrorists, we don’t give a damn about them.” We don't desecrate them, we don't do things like that."

“We just wrap them up and give them to the military—I have no idea what the military does with the bodies next,” he says.

"The dirtiest job in the world"

Zaka, a non-governmental organization, has over 3000 volunteers deployed throughout the country to respond to any terrorist attack, disaster or major accident.

According to its website, the organization has sole responsibility in Israel for responding to unnatural deaths and works closely with all emergency services and security forces.

Peretz said he called a friend who had worked at the unit for 25 years and offered to help, and he was hired “because he knew I was crazy enough to come.”

Peretz says he "still hasn't realized" the horror of what he experienced. He called the scenes "unimaginable" and said he saw several troops and volunteers vomit and pass out from the sights, smells and scale of destruction.

“From the moment you enter the kibbutz, you can smell death and burned bodies,” he said.

“One of the most difficult tasks in the operation is retrieving the body. What makes it very difficult physically and mentally is when the body lies there for days, swelling, sputtering and exploding. There are worms everywhere. There is no special technique for handling these things. You just have to do it,” he says. — Everything is done by hand. In many cases, you walk into a house with a lot of bodies around and cover your eyes with your hands so you don't see anything other than what you need to look at at that moment. I know it's disgusting, but it happens every day and we have to do it every day."

Peretz said his boys, ages 5 and 9, stayed with their grandparents while he did volunteer work and then they returned to the U.S. together last weekend.

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Peretz called collecting bodies "the dirtiest job in the world" but still wants to return and help his fellow Israelis.

"I want to come back. It's hard for me to stay here. There’s nothing I can do,” he said.

After almost two weeks of war, at least 3000 Palestinians and 1400 Israelis have been killed in Israel, according to recent reports.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• October 7 Hamas attacked Israel: Netanyahu said "this is war."
• 8 October The Israeli government officially declared war and greenlighted "significant military steps" in response to the surprise attack by Hamas militants.
• October 11, first plane with American weapons arrived in southern Israel, and the US government offers American citizens wishing to leave Israel, evacuation flights. On October 14, it became known that Egypt, Israel and the United States agreed that foreigners living in the Gaza Strip, will be able to travel through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.
• October 16 President US Joe Biden said that the Israeli occupationI Gaza Strip would be a big mistake.
• Hossein Amir-Abdallahian, Iranian Foreign Minister, October 18 posted a tweet where he wrote that Israel’s time is “running out”. This happened after a rocket attack on a hospital in Gaza took place on October 17.
• 18 October US President Joe Biden visited Israelto express strong support for a country that has declared war on the Palestinian group Hamas due to its brutal terror.
• 19 October US President Joe Biden addressed the Americans from the Oval Office with a speech about the wars between Israel and Hamas, as well as Russia and Ukraine.

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