Egyptian authorities along with Red Cross Join Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza Strip
Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the remains of deceased hostages taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The Israeli government announced that the teams have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.
Hamas has handed over fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all remains of captives. The group stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search past the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the border running along the north, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed by relatives, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.
The organization does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.
The group says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative stated that Hamas knew where the bodies were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our hostages," the representative said.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be implemented if the remains of the hostages who died were not handed back quickly.
"A portion of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump added: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation very closely."
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On the weekend, the Israeli leader said the country would decide which international troops 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 safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that we will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "numerous countries" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.
The Israeli military initiated a military campaign in the territory in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about twelve hundred people 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 health authorities under the group's control.
