Egypt along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Bodies in Gaza
Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have verified.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.
The group has handed over fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages 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 the organization to start return the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the search beyond the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.
Previously, Israel has not approved the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be welcomed by family members, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.
Hamas does not hand over its detainees - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been destroyed completely.
Hamas claims it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson 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 captives," the spokesperson said.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.
"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."
- Gaza children dying as they await Israel to permit evacuations
- The US Secretary of State states lots of nations willing to participate in the region's peacekeeping unit
- New images reveal Israeli control line further into the territory than expected
On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced Israel would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region to help secure the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in command of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of nations" had offered to be part of the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.
The Israeli military initiated a armed operation in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 people and took two hundred fifty-one others as captives.
At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.