Egypt along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the region controlled by military personnel in Gaza.
The group has transferred 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, 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 cautions the organization to begin returning the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will intervene".
An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".
The "yellow line" marks the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Until now, Israel has not approved the entry of these crews.
The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.
The development will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to provide a proper burial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages.
Hamas does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military.
But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.
After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating 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 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 retrieve the remains of our captives," the spokesperson said.
The former president posted on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.
"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but others they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.
Trump added: "Let's see what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."
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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help maintain the truce under the former president's initiative.
"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On Friday, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with those taking part.
This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the country's involvement.
It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.
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 people and captured two hundred fifty-one others as captives.
No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.
