Egyptian authorities and Red Cross Join Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.
The Israeli government stated that the crews have been permitted to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory.
The group has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
Donald Trump has cautions the organization to start return the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will intervene".
An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search past the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the border running along the north, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.
Previously, Israel has not authorized the access of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.
Hamas does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been destroyed completely.
Hamas says it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson said 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 posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the remains of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.
"Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but others they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he remarked.
Trump added: "Let's see what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."
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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the beginning of a government session.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "numerous countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 others as captives.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.