Egypt and Red Cross Join Search for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egypt and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have verified.
The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Hamas has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has warned Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will intervene".
An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search beyond the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and east of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of these crews.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages.
The organization does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.
The group claims it is making every effort to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas knew 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 posted on his social media account on the weekend that measures would be taken if the remains of the hostages who died were not returned promptly.
"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he remarked.
Trump 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 the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.
"We are in command of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he said talking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "numerous nations" had offered to be involved in the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.
This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the nation's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.
Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 individuals and captured 251 others as hostages.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
