"Some of the Dead Are Named"

Reading about the horror taking place in Gaza, I was struck by one particular line in a Maan news report:

"Some of the dead are named."

We've gotten used to the Gaza dead as nameless and faceless that naming them, even some of them, is jarring. It's almost a transgression of boundaries, a violence against our numb sensibilities.

"Some of the dead are named."

Not all, mind you. Only some. The naming can't keep up with the killing. The namers can't keep up with the killers. Tagging a body takes longer than making one. That's why it's "some."

But naming the dead, some of the dead, is possible. What's impossible is naming the living. The living dead. Those pulling the triggers, firing the mortars, pushing their neighbors off buildings, mutilating bodies. Mutilating bodies. Can we name them? Who are they? What are they?

Yes, some of the dead are named. Like this:

Yasser Bakir, 27; Saddam Bakir, 18; Basil Kafarna, 25; 'Eid Al-Masri, 56, and his sons Faraj Al-Masri, 23, and Ibrahim 'Eid Al-Masri, 21; Muhammad Mihjiz, 20; Muhammad Dahdouh, 21; Mazen 'Ajouz, 30; Jamal Abu Al-Jidyan, 45, and his brother Majid Abu Al-Jidyan, 33; Ms. Rayah Mihsin, 75; Ms. Sara Mihsin, 15; Ms. Dalal Mihsin, 19; Jamal Rabi', 13; 'Umar Rantisi, 20; and Mousa Abu Zeinah, 40.