Egypt along with Red Cross Join Search for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to operate past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area under the control of military personnel in Gaza.
Hamas has handed over 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated truce agreement, which requires it to transfer all remains of captives. The group stated it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
Donald Trump has warned the organization to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will take action".
An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the ICRC to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the north, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month.
The news will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to give them a proper burial.
The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of hostages.
The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
The group says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an official representative said that Hamas knew where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the representative commented.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that action would be implemented if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back quickly.
"A portion of the remains are hard to reach, but the rest they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he remarked.
He continued: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."
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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.
"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said speaking at the beginning of a government session.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This appeared to be a reference to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the nation's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas.
The Israeli military initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 additional persons as hostages.
At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.