Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Hostage Remains in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the bodies of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Hamas has handed over fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has cautions the organization to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will intervene".
An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search past the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israel has not authorized the access of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.
The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, 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 Strip is new.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under debris of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization knew where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the spokesperson said.
Trump shared on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.
"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump added: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
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On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce 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 said talking at the beginning of a government session.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "a lot of countries" had offered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.
This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had rejected the country's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel launched a military campaign in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 people and took 251 additional persons as captives.
At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in the region from that time, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.