As Israel’s war in Gaza continues, a growing number of parents in Israel are demanding that sperm be extracted and frozen from the bodies of their children, who were killed during the ongoing conflict, a BBC reports saying
More than 400 Israelis have been killed since the October 7 attack by Hamas and the brutal Israeli retaliation.
Of these, sperm was recovered from 170 men, both civilians and soldiers, according to Israel’s Ministry of Health. This is a 15-fold increase from the previous year.
The procedure involves making a small incision in the scrotum to take a piece of tissue from which live sperm can be extracted and frozen. Successful retrieval is most likely within 24 hours of death, but sperm can survive in the deceased’s body for up to 72 hours.
To make the process easier for grieving families, some procedural rules have been relaxed, but families are still frustrated by the lengthy legal process.
In October, the Israeli Ministry of Health lifted a court order requiring fathers to use the sperm extraction method. Although sperm freezing has become easier, widows or fathers who wish to use it to conceive a child must prove to the court that the deceased intended to have children.
Parents say the entire process can take years and the long wait adds to their pain.
The first Israeli couple to save and use their dead son’s sperm after their son, a soldier, was killed by a Palestinian sniper in the Gaza Strip in 2002. Their granddaughter is now 10 years old.
While experts believe the process has “great value” for grieving families, they also say “current rules have created a conflict for single men” because they have to prove their desire to have children in court.
Because single men often have no clear record of consent, their families, already dealing with grief in “very difficult circumstances,” can only freeze the sperm but not use it for fertilization.
Israeli lawmakers are currently attempting to draft a bill to create clearer and more comprehensive rules for the process, given the high death toll in the ongoing war in Gaza.
