Egypt along with Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Remains in Gaza
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel stated that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Hamas has handed over 15 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 hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has warned the organization to start return the remains "promptly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".
An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "demarcation line".
The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of these crews.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.
The development will be welcomed by family members, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.
Hamas does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is new.
After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.
The group claims it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it encounters challenges finding 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 Sunday, 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 bodies of our captives," the representative commented.
The former president posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.
"Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but others they can hand over now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.
Trump continued: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."
- Gaza children dying as they wait for Israel to permit relocations
- Rubio states many countries willing to participate in the region's security force
- Recent photographs show Israeli control line deeper into the territory than expected
On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a government session.
On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.
This seemed like a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had vetoed the country's involvement.
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 incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 additional persons as captives.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
