Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Join Search for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory.
The group has handed over 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which requires it to hand over all remains of captives. The group said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has warned the organization to begin returning the remains "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".
An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search beyond the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the north, southern and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.
The news will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of captives.
Hamas does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.
After more than two years 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 retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under debris of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization knew where the remains were.
"If Hamas 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 Saturday that action would be implemented if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned promptly.
"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he said.
Trump continued: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."
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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a government session.
On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.
This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.
It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel launched a armed operation in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 additional persons as captives.
At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.