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זק"א | |
 ZAKA logo | |
| Formation | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Yehuda Meshi Zahav |
| Purpose | First aid, search and rescue, Jewish burial |
| Location | |
CEO | Dubi Weissenstern |
| Volunteers | >3,000 (2023) |
| Website | http://www.zaka.org.il |
ZAKA (Hebrew: זק"א, abbreviation for Zihuy Korbanot Ason, זיהוי קרבנות אסון, lit. 'Disaster Victim Identification') is a series of voluntary post-disaster response teams in Israel, each operating in a police district (two in the Central District due to geographic considerations). They are recognized by the Israeli government. The full name is "ZAKA – Identification, Extraction and Rescue – True Kindness" (זק"א - איתור חילוץ והצלה - חסד של אמת). The two largest ZAKA factions are Zaka Tel Aviv and ZAKA Search and Rescue.
ZAKA faced insolvency before 7 October 2023. Given the job of retrieving the dead bodies after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, they started fund-raising on 8 October 2023. By 31 January 2024, they had raised over 50 million shekels ($13.7 million). According to Haaretz, ZAKA's conduct in the aftermath of the attacks was unprofessional, including mixing up remains and spreading misinformation about atrocities that never happened in order to raise money.[1][2]