Egyptian authorities and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel stated that the crews have been permitted to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.
The group has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will intervene".
An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month.
The news will be welcomed by family members, desperate to provide a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.
The organization does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas claims it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative said that the organization was aware of where the remains were.
"If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.
Trump shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.
"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he said.
He continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."
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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.
"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that Israel will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared speaking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "numerous nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the country's involvement.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.
The Israeli military launched a military campaign in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 individuals and took 251 others as hostages.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.
