Egypt along with Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area under the control of military personnel in Gaza.
Hamas has handed over 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 remains of captives. The organization said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned the organization to start return the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will intervene".
An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the northern, southern and east of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.
The news will be welcomed by family members, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.
Hamas does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under debris of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative said that Hamas was aware of where the remains were.
"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to recover the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.
The former president posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.
"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but others they can hand over now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he remarked.
He continued: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
- Palestinian minors dying as they wait for Israeli authorities to enable evacuations
- The US Secretary of State states many countries willing to participate in the region's peacekeeping unit
- New images show demarcation zone further into the territory than anticipated
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that we will determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said talking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous nations" had volunteered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had rejected the country's involvement.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.
Israel launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and captured two hundred fifty-one others as captives.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in the region since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.