Egypt and Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Bodies in Gaza
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to search for the remains of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.
The Israeli government stated that the crews have been permitted to operate beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the area under the control of military personnel in the Gaza territory.
Hamas has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.
Donald Trump has warned Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the other countries involved in this significant peace will intervene".
An official representative indicated the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be greeted positively by family members, eager to give them a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives.
Hamas does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas knew where the bodies were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the representative said.
Trump 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 quickly.
"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he remarked.
Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."
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On Sunday, the Israeli leader said Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in the region to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in command 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 function and will proceed," he said speaking at the beginning of a government session.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous countries" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This seemed like a allusion to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had rejected the nation's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred people and took two hundred fifty-one others as hostages.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.