Egypt and Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egypt and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the remains of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.
The group has handed over fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all remains of captives. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
Donald Trump has warned Hamas to start return the remains "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will intervene".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of these crews.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of hostages.
The organization does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, 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 calculates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas claims it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.
On Sunday, an official representative stated that Hamas knew where the bodies were.
"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.
Trump posted on his social media account on Saturday that action would be implemented if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.
"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
He continued: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."
- Gaza children dying as they await Israel to enable relocations
- The US Secretary of State says many countries prepared to participate in Gaza peacekeeping unit
- Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone deeper into the territory than anticipated
On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that Israel will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said talking at the beginning of a government session.
On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be part of the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.
This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.
Israel launched a military campaign in the territory in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 people and captured 251 additional persons as hostages.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.