Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Hostage Remains in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been allowed to search past the referred to as "yellow line" in the area under the control of military personnel in Gaza.
The group has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has cautions Hamas to start return the remains "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will intervene".
An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "yellow line".
The "yellow line" marks the border running along the northern, southern and east of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israel has not authorized the access 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 signed in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.
The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.
Hamas does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.
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 retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas knew where the bodies were.
"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages," 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 returned quickly.
"Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump added: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
- Gaza minors dying as they await Israeli authorities to permit relocations
- The US Secretary of State says lots of countries willing to join the region's peacekeeping unit
- New images reveal demarcation zone further into the territory than expected
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in command of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said talking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of countries" had offered to be part of the contingent - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the nation's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with the organization.
Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 individuals and captured 251 additional persons as hostages.
No fewer than 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
