Egypt along with Red Cross Join Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have verified.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in Gaza.
The group has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned the organization to begin returning the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will intervene".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "yellow line" marks the border running along the north, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.
The development will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.
The organization does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under debris of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military 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 bodies of our hostages," the representative commented.
The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be implemented if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back promptly.
"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," 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 announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.
"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the start of a government session.
On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be part of the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had vetoed the country's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a armed operation in Gaza in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 people and captured 251 others as captives.
At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
