Egyptian authorities and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Remains in Gaza
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified.
The Israeli government announced that the crews have been allowed to search past the referred to as "yellow line" in the region controlled by military personnel in Gaza.
Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
Donald Trump has warned Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, 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 Red Cross to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.
The organization does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.
Hamas says it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of buildings destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.
It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization knew where the bodies were.
"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.
The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.
"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.
Trump added: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
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On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a planned international force 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 foreign troops that Israel will decide which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the beginning of a government session.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the country's involvement.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about 1,200 people and captured 251 additional persons as captives.
At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.