Egypt and Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the bodies of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The Israeli government stated that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region under the control of military personnel in Gaza.
Hamas has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned Hamas to start return the remains "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will intervene".
An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, southern and east of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.
The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the return of captives.
The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt 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 eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.
The group says it is making every effort to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas knew where the bodies were.
"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.
The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that measures would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back quickly.
"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he remarked.
He continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
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On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, the American diplomat said "numerous countries" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.
This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israel had vetoed the nation's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.
The Israeli military launched a armed operation in Gaza in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about 1,200 individuals and took 251 others as hostages.
At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in the region from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.