Egypt along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the remains of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been permitted to operate past the referred to as "yellow line" in the region under the control of military personnel in the Gaza territory.
Hamas has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
Donald Trump has warned the organization to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation past the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the northern, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israel has not authorized the access of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.
The news will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to give them a proper burial.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the return of captives.
Hamas does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.
But the arrival 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 calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
The group says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it encounters challenges finding them under debris of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the representative said.
Trump posted on his social media account on the weekend that measures would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.
"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but the rest they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump added: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."
- Palestinian minors dying as they await Israeli authorities to permit relocations
- Rubio says many nations prepared to participate in the region's security force
- New images show Israeli control line deeper into the territory than expected
On Sunday, the Israeli leader said Israel would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces 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 Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had vetoed the nation's involvement.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a military campaign in the territory in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred people and captured 251 additional persons as hostages.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in the region since then, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.