Tomer Peretz describes horror of clearing bodies from Hamas attack

WARNING: this story contains graphic and distressing content

When Israeli-American artist Tomer Peretz booked flights for himself and his two young boys from Los Angeles to Israel for a cousin’s wedding, he anticipated a fun-filled time with close family and friends.

He was planning on music, dancing and laughing with loved ones they hadn’t seen in a while.

But within days of his arrival, everything changed when Hamas launched their surprise, early-morning terror attack on Oct. 7, leading to the loss of over 1,400 Israeli lives and for the country to declare war on the terror group.

Peretz, 41, was not just horrified and appalled by the attack — he also felt a sense of duty to help his countrymen.

He immediately put his hand up to volunteer for Zaka, the country’s civilian rescue and recovery organization.

However, nothing could prepare him for what would happen next, as he was assigned to a highly specialized unit which clears dead bodies after disasters and sent into the Be’eri kibbutz, where more than 100 people, including babies, had been tortured and slaughtered by merciless Hamas attack.

Peretz insisted on describing to The Post what he had seen to convey the level of atrocity and barbarism of the terrorists.

Among the victims’ bodies he personally recovered were burned babies, a woman who had been “shot in the face about 20 times”, innocent men and elderly people.

“Everything was kind of blown, there was no face,” Peretz said of the woman who had been shot to death.

“We picked up body parts like arms … My team picked up a burned baby with an ax in its head. My team leader put the baby inside a bag.”

He told The Post his job was to lift the burnt, bloodied corpses, then wrap and roll them in plastic, before writing the person’s house number on their back with a marker, and putting them in a bag, per Zaka’s protocol.

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

“We don’t know what the military does with the bodies next but I assume that’s when the DNA check process starts,” Peretz, who arrived back in the US with his sons a week ago, said.

Be’eri — a kibbutz or communal farm — has 1,100 residents in total across its area and lies near the Gaza border wall, which Hamas broke through to launch their attack from.

During their day-long rampage in the Be’eri kibbutz, Hamas militants roamed neighborhoods shooting residents dead, setting fire to homes and killing those who tried to escape the smoke and flames.

They murdered more than 120 people, including children, and kidnapped others. 

The Israeli military was the first to discover the atrocities which had taken place as they inspected what was left of homes and buildings in order to make sure they were clear of bombs and to gather information about casualties.

Then, Zaka’s specialized unit was called in to carry out their gruesome but essential work.

Peretz said he personally handled at least 40 bodies and saw more than 100 during the three and a half days he volunteered with Zaka before returning to the US.

“We sometimes didn’t know if they were a brother or a terrorist but we always treated them like a brother because you never want to make a mistake,” he said.

“[Even if they were a terrorist] We don’t spit on them. We don’t [defile them], we don’t do those kind of things. 

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

Zaka, a non-governmental organization, has more than 3,000 volunteers deployed around the country to respond to any terror attack, disaster or major accident. 

It has the sole responsibility in Israel for dealing with incidents of unnatural death and works in close cooperation with all the emergency services and security forces, according to its website.

Peretz told The Post he called a friend who had worked with the unit for 25 years to offer help and was taken on “because he knew I was crazy enough to come”. 

But what he said rattled him to his very core and Peretz says he “still hasn’t processed” the sheer horror of what he experienced. He described the scenes as “unimaginable” and said he saw several military members and volunteers vomit and faint in response to the sights, smells and scale of the devastation.

“From the second you enter the kibbutz there is the smell of death and burnt bodies,” he said.

“One of the hardest things in the operation is body pickup.

“Something that makes it very difficult physically and mentally is when the body is laying there a few days and it gets swollen and it’s squirting and exploding.

“There are worms all over, also. There is no special technique for how to handle those things. You just have to do it.

“Everything is done by hand. In many cases you go into a house with lots of bodies around and put your hands over your eyes not to see everything except what you need to look at for the moment.

“I know it’s disgusting but it’s happening every day and we gotta do it every day.”

Peretz said his boys, aged 5 and 9, stayed with their grandparents while he carried out the volunteer work, before returning together to the US last weekend.

Peretz described body collecting as “the dirtiest job in the world” but is still desperate to get back and help his fellow Israelis.

“I do want to go back. I have a hard time staying here. I cannot do anything,” he said.

After nearly two weeks of war in Israel, at least 3,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the latest reported death tolls.