Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel stated that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
The group has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has warned the organization to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson 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 "yellow line".
The "yellow line" marks the border running along the north, southern and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be greeted positively by family members, eager to give them a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.
Hamas does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the IDF in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative stated that Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.
"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the spokesperson said.
The former president posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.
"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but others they can hand over at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he said.
He added: "Let's see what they accomplish 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 said the country would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned international force in the region to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will determine which forces are not acceptable 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, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This appeared to be a reference to Turkey, amid reports Israel had rejected the nation's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one others as captives.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in the region since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.