Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Hostage Remains in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been granted permission to search for the remains of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the area under the control of military personnel in Gaza.
The group has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will intervene".
An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the search past the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" marks the border running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israel has not authorized the entry of such teams.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.
The news will be welcomed by relatives, eager to give them a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.
The organization does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the UN estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of structures destroyed by the IDF in the region.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On Sunday, an official representative stated that the organization was aware of where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our hostages," the representative said.
The former president shared on his social media account on Saturday that action would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.
"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he said.
He continued: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
- Gaza children losing their lives as they wait for Israeli authorities to enable evacuations
- The US Secretary of State states lots of countries willing to participate in the region's peacekeeping unit
- Recent photographs show demarcation zone deeper into the territory than expected
On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent 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 not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 people and captured 251 others as hostages.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.
