Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Join Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to operate past the so-called "yellow line" in the area under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
Hamas has transferred fifteen out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to transfer all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned the organization to start return the bodies "quickly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will take action".
An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israel has not approved the access of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.
The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to give them a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of captives.
The organization does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF.
But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.
The group claims it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.
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 made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.
Trump shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.
"A portion of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can hand over at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he said.
He added: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
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On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that Israel will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared speaking at the beginning of a government session.
On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of nations" had offered to be part of the contingent - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the nation's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel launched a military campaign in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as captives.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.