GENETIC LEGACY

Deluge of Families Seek to Preserve Sperm of Relatives Killed in Israel: Report

Embryologists are working overtime in Israel, with typically just 24 hours to perform the procedure before sperm samples become unusable.

In the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, families are racing against time to retrieve the sperm of young men killed in the conflict in the hopes of preserving their genetic legacy, the Times of Israel reported. Embryologists are working overtime to perform posthumous sperm retrieval on scores of those killed, with typically just 24 hours to perform the procedure before the samples become unusable. “There is no protocol for coping with the preservation of sperm in such a large scope. We had to figure out how to cope with the situation and assess what equipment we had to do so many procedures in parallel,” embryologist Dr. Yael Harir told the Times of Israel.