🔗 Share this article

Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The Israeli government announced that the crews have been allowed to search beyond the referred to as "yellow line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

The former US president has cautions the organization to start return the remains "promptly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will intervene".

An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, southern and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

Until now, Israel has not approved the access of such teams.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.

The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the return of captives.

Hamas does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.

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

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been destroyed completely.

Hamas says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under debris of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas was aware of where the remains were.

"If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.

The former president shared on his social media account on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back quickly.

"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but the rest they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

He added: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."

• Gaza children dying as they wait for Israel to enable relocations
• Rubio says many nations willing to participate in Gaza security force
• Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than expected

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will decide which units 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, the American diplomat indicated "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 allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the country's involvement.

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.

Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as captives.

At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.