Egypt along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip
Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
Hamas 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 remains of captives. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has warned Hamas to begin returning the remains "quickly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will intervene".
An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "yellow line" marks the border running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed by family members, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.
Hamas does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been destroyed completely.
Hamas says it is doing its best to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization was aware of where the bodies were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our captives," the spokesperson commented.
Trump shared on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.
"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he remarked.
Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
- Gaza minors losing their lives as they wait for Israeli authorities to enable evacuations
- The US Secretary of State states lots of countries willing to join the region's security force
- Recent photographs show Israeli control line deeper into Gaza than expected
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help maintain the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will decide which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of countries" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with the organization.
The Israeli military 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 additional persons as hostages.
No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
