Suicidal terrorist bombings in Israel - Identification of human remains

Positive identification of human remains is one of the most important tasks in mass disaster investigations. Religious and jurisdictional demands in Israel, require the identification process to be completed in the shortest possible time. In the 18 suicidal terrorist bombings that took place in Israel between the years 1993 1996, 127 victims and 19 perpetrators were killed, and their severely fragmented bodies were identified within 24 h. The efficient completion of the identification endeavor was enabled by the implementation of a variety of techniques and the close collaboration in the investigation between the different emergency and forensic agencies. This paper presents the mass disaster identification policy and techniques currently used in Israel. The importance of an interdisciplinary approach for the identification of extremely fragmented human remains from mass disasters and the creation of a central data bank of fingerprints and genetic markers is emphasized.