Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Join Effort for Captive Remains in Gaza

Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified.

The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been permitted to operate past the so-called "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in Gaza.

Hamas has handed over 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the remains "quickly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the "demarcation line".

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

Previously, Israel has not approved 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 Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.

The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives.

The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on 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 estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.

Hamas says it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On the weekend, an official representative stated that the organization was aware of where the bodies were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson commented.

Trump shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.

"Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but others they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.

He added: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."

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

"We are in control of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which units 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 "numerous countries" had volunteered to be part of the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.

This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the nation's participation.

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

Israel launched a military campaign in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took two hundred fifty-one others as hostages.

At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.