Egypt and Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Remains in Gaza
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized 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 crews have been allowed to operate past the referred to as "yellow line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.
The group has handed over 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all remains of captives. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has cautions Hamas to start return the remains "quickly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "yellow line".
The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israel has not approved the access of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be welcomed by relatives, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.
The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.
The group claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization knew where the bodies were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.
"A portion of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he said.
Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."
- Gaza children dying as they await Israeli authorities to enable evacuations
- The US Secretary of State states many countries prepared to join Gaza security force
- Recent photographs show Israeli control line further into Gaza than anticipated
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which international troops it would permit as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure the ceasefire 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 decide which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared speaking at the beginning of a government session.
On Friday, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the country's involvement.
It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.
Israel initiated a military campaign in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred people and took 251 additional persons as hostages.
No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.
