Lebanon urges DNA tests to identify missing in Israel strikes

Lebanese authorities on Monday urged the families of people who went missing in Israeli strikes to conduct DNA tests at specialized centers to identify the remains of loved ones.

“To help families of those who went missing following the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and to make the process of identifying victims and their remains smoother,” families should head to centers affiliated with the Judicial Police “to conduct DNA tests”, the police said in a statement.

For the past week, Israel has heavily bombed the country’s east, south, and southern Beirut suburbs, killing hundreds of people and displacing up to one million.

The escalation comes on the heels of nearly one year of cross-border fire with Israel that Hezbollah says is in support of ally Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.

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On Friday, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs a strike Lebanon said killed six people, without identifying them.

On Saturday, Health Minister Firas Abiad said bodies and body parts were still under the rubble.

Social media users have called for help finding missing relatives, while an AFP correspondent in southern Lebanon reported hospital morgues were filled with unidentified remains.

Since mid-September, Israeli strikes on across Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people, authorities said.