Israelis Searching for Bodies Near Gaza Get Eagle-Eyed Help

Jerusalem, 12 November, 2023 (TPS) -- Israeli authorities searching for the remains of people massacred by Hamas on October 7 received some unexpected help from a white-tailed eagle that recently landed in Israel. The bird is already credited with finding four bodies and the remains of a fifth.

A military official involved in the ongoing search for bodies explained to the Tazpit Press Service that one white-tailed eagle, also known as sea eagles, had drawn the attention of someone at Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority.

“They’re water dwellers and live around lakes and ponds. It’s rare for them to land on solid ground for extensive periods of time,” the officer told TPS.

“One day, I got a call one day from someone in the Nature Authority,” the officer recalled. “Some prey bird that landed. He explained that it’s a very strange thing for this prey bird to stay on ground for extended periods of time.”

The Nature and Parks Authority tracks birds of prey, so this particular eagle already had a GPS tag attached to its leg.

“He shared the app that follows the bird, and it mentioned that the bird spent up to two hours, sometimes even longer, around the Be’eri forest area in a specific location,” the officer told TPS. “We were busy doing other things, we didn’t pay attention to it at first, but we reconnected. So I sent somebody over there. And we found four bodies almost exactly where the bird was indicated. The reason the bird was on ground was because it was picking on dead bodies.”

He noted that the bodies were in the outer perimeter of a search area, “So we got there two weeks earlier than we would have,” the officer said.

At least 130 residents of Kibbutz Be’eri were massacred by Hamas on Oct. 7.

The officer said the eagle also led the team to the remains of another victim near Kibbutz Kissufim, who is in the process of being identified.

The officer said the bird hasn’t been given any nickname. Asked how long the eagle is expected to stay, he told TPS, “As long as it has some kind of interest in the ground.”

Some 1,200 people were killed during Hamas’s Oct. attack on Jewish communities near the Gaza Strip and 239 people are confirmed being held hostage in Gaza. Authorities have identified 870 of the victims, while others still remain unaccounted for. Archaeologists have been enlisted to help find the remains of massacred Israelis.

Once found, remains are sent to Camp Shura, a military facility near Rehovot for identification. More difficult remains to identify are transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv.

White-tailed eagles eat fish, small mammals, and carcasses. They are usually spotted at certain times of the year in the Hula Valley Nature Reserve, a famed birdwatching spot in northern Israel.