Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Join Search for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been permitted to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
Hamas has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned the organization to start return the remains "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will take action".
An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the ICRC to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the search past the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of these crews.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to give them a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.
Hamas does not transfer its detainees - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.
Hamas claims it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization was aware of where the bodies were.
"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our hostages," the representative commented.
Trump shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.
"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he said.
He continued: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."
- Palestinian minors dying as they wait for Israel to enable evacuations
- The US Secretary of State says lots of nations prepared to join the region's security force
- New images reveal demarcation zone deeper into the territory than anticipated
On the weekend, the Israeli leader said Israel would decide which international troops it would permit as part of a planned international force in the region to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the country's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and captured 251 additional persons as hostages.
No fewer than 68,519 have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the region since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.
