Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Join Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip

Egyptian machinery crosses into the Gaza Strip
Egyptian machinery enters into the Gaza territory

Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.

The group has handed over 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to transfer all remains of captives. The group said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions the organization to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the other countries involved in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson indicated 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 "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a proper burial.

Captive circumstances in the region

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 Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.

But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.

The group claims it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On Sunday, an official representative stated that Hamas was aware of where the remains were.

"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages," the representative said.

Trump shared on his social media account on Saturday that action would be implemented if the remains of the hostages who died were not handed back promptly.

"A portion of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he remarked.

Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."

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On Sunday, the Israeli leader said Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure 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 determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared speaking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.

On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of nations" had offered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had rejected the nation's participation.

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.

Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 additional persons as captives.

No fewer than 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.

Kimberly Mitchell
Kimberly Mitchell

A Prague-based journalist passionate about Czech culture and current affairs, with over a decade of experience in media.

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