Egypt along with Red Cross Participate in Search for Hostage Bodies in Gaza
Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been allowed to operate past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.
The group has handed over fifteen out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will take action".
An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed by family members, eager to give them a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the return of captives.
Hamas does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip 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.
The group claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.
On the weekend, an official representative said that Hamas knew where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our captives," the representative commented.
The former president posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.
"Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."
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On the weekend, the Israeli leader said Israel would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a planned international force in the region to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.
"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he declared speaking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had offered to be involved in the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with those taking part.
This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid reports Israel had vetoed the nation's involvement.
It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a armed operation in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 others as hostages.
At least 68,519 have been killed in military actions in the region since then, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.
