Egyptian authorities and International Committee of the Red Cross Join Search for Captive Bodies in Gaza
Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the remains of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been permitted to search past the referred to as "yellow line" in the area under the control of military personnel in Gaza.
Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to transfer all remains of captives. The organization said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will take action".
An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" marks the border running along the north, 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 access of these crews.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.
Hamas does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the ICRC, 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 a recent development.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.
Hamas says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it encounters challenges finding them under debris of buildings bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative said that the organization knew where the remains were.
"If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.
The former president shared on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.
"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming," he remarked.
He added: "Let's see 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 said Israel would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region 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 Israel 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 said "a lot of countries" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the nation's involvement.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a military campaign in the territory in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred 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 territory's health authorities under the group's control.