Egyptian authorities and Red Cross Join Effort for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the remains of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.
The Israeli government announced that the crews have been allowed to search past the so-called "demarcation line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
Hamas has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a American-mediated truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
Donald Trump has cautions the organization to start return the remains "quickly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the ICRC to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search beyond the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the north, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump 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 relatives, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives.
Hamas does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.
After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.
Hamas says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
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 recover the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.
"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but the rest they can hand over now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their demilitarization," he said.
Trump continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
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- The US Secretary of State states many nations willing to join Gaza security force
- Recent photographs show demarcation zone deeper into the territory than expected
On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he said talking at the start of a government session.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "numerous nations" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred people and took 251 others as hostages.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.
