Egyptian authorities and Red Cross Join Search for Hostage Bodies in Gaza
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
The group has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has warned Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will intervene".
An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the border running along the north, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed 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 hostages.
The organization does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.
But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas knew where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our captives," the spokesperson said.
The former president posted on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be taken if the remains of the hostages who died were not returned promptly.
"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
He continued: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."
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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had offered to be part of the contingent - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This appeared to be a reference to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the country's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel initiated a armed operation in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 individuals and took 251 others as captives.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the region since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.