Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip
Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.
The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been allowed to search beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.
The group has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has cautions Hamas to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will intervene".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages.
The organization does not hand over its detainees - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.
After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.
Hamas claims it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On Sunday, an official representative stated that Hamas knew where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson commented.
The former president posted on his social media account on the weekend that action would be taken if the bodies 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.
He added: "Let's see what they do over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."
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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a planned 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 international forces that we will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he said talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of nations" had offered to be involved in the force - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had rejected the country's participation.
It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.
The Israeli military launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 individuals and took two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.
At least 68,519 have been killed in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.
