Egypt along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip
Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.
The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to search beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Hamas 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 hostage bodies. The organization said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.
The former US president has cautions the organization to start return the bodies "quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".
An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the search past the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
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 Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a proper burial.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives.
The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on 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 United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.
The group says it is doing its best to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.
It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.
On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization was aware of where the remains were.
"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages," the spokesperson said.
The former president shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.
"A portion of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.
Trump added: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."
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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.
"We are in command of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that we will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.
On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous countries" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.
This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the country's participation.
It was still uncertain, 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 1,200 people and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.
At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from that time, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.
