Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip

Teams from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to search for the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory.

The group has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

The former US president has cautions the organization to start return the bodies "quickly, or the other countries involved in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said 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 "demarcation line".

The "yellow line" marks the boundary running along the north, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of these crews.

Egypt, 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 Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.

The news will be welcomed by family members, eager to provide a proper burial.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.

The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.

But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new.

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, 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 officials in Egypt.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas 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 commented.

The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.

"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

Trump continued: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a planned multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be part of the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the country's involvement.

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.

Israel initiated a armed operation in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred people and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.

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