Egypt along with Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza

Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have verified.

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

Hamas has handed over 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has warned the organization to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will intervene".

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

The "demarcation line" indicates the border running along the north, south and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.

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

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.

The news will be greeted positively by family members, eager to give them a proper burial.

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

The organization does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.

After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been destroyed completely.

The group says it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On the weekend, an official representative said that the organization was aware of where the remains were.

"If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our captives," the spokesperson said.

The former president posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the remains of the hostages who died were not handed back promptly.

"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he said.

He added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."

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On the weekend, the Israeli leader said Israel would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be part of the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.

This appeared to be a reference 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 understanding with Hamas.

The Israeli military launched a armed operation in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 additional persons as captives.

No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.