Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in Gaza.
The group has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to begin returning the bodies "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israel has not authorized the entry of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.
The development will be greeted positively by family members, eager to give them a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the return of captives.
The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.
But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.
The group says it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative stated that the organization knew where the remains were.
"If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our captives," the spokesperson said.
The former president 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 difficult to access, but others they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.
He added: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."
- Gaza minors dying as they wait for Israeli authorities to enable relocations
- The US Secretary of State states lots of countries prepared to participate in the region's peacekeeping unit
- Recent photographs show demarcation zone further into Gaza than anticipated
On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would decide which international troops it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the beginning of a government session.
On Friday, the American diplomat said "numerous countries" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the nation's involvement.
It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.
Israel launched a armed operation in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.
At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.
