Egypt and Red Cross Join Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the bodies of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been allowed to operate past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region controlled by military personnel in Gaza.
Hamas has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
Donald Trump has warned Hamas to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line".
The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and east of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of these crews.
Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.
The news will be greeted positively by family members, eager to provide a proper burial.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives.
Hamas does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.
But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.
Hamas claims it is making every effort to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of buildings bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.
It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson said that the organization was aware of where the remains were.
"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our captives," the spokesperson commented.
Trump posted on his social media account on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.
"A portion of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he said.
He continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."
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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help maintain the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that we will decide which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said talking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the nation's involvement.
It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with the organization.
The Israeli military launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.
At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.