Egyptian authorities and Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza

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

Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.

The Israeli government announced that the teams have been allowed to operate past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of military personnel in Gaza.

Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

The former US president has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson indicated the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of these crews.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant 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 welcomed by relatives, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.

Hostage situation in Gaza

The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages.

The organization does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza 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 heavy shelling by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

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

"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our hostages," the spokesperson commented.

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

"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he said.

Trump continued: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."

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On the weekend, the Israeli leader said Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in the region to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in command of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared talking at the beginning of a government session.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous nations" had offered to be part of the contingent - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the country's involvement.

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

Israel initiated a armed operation in the territory in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as captives.

At least 68,519 have been killed in military actions in the region since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.

Sue Graham
Sue Graham

Digital strategist and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in helping businesses innovate and scale through technology.