Egypt and the Red Cross join forces to find the bodies of hostages in Gaza

Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been given permission to search for the bodies of hostages killed during the October 7 attack, Israeli officials have confirmed.

The Israeli government said the teams had been given permission to search beyond the so-called “yellow line” into areas controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas has handed over 15 of the 28 dead Israeli hostages in the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it was now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has warned Hamas to “start returning the bodies immediately, or other countries involved in this great peace will take action”.

An Israeli spokesman said the Egyptian team had been given permission to work with the ICRC to find the bodies and would use excavation machines and trucks to search beyond the “yellow line”.

“Yellow line” marks the border The ceasefire runs north, south and east of Gaza, which Israel withdrew from as part of the first phase of the deal.

So far, Israel has not approved the entry of such teams.

Egypt is the main signatory along with Qatar and Turkey Trump-brokered Gaza peace planwhich was signed earlier this month in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Relatives will welcome the news, eager to give him a proper burial.

The ICRC is already heavily involved in the return of hostages.

Hamas does not hand over its captives – dead or alive – directly to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but to the ICRC, which escorts them out of Gaza and hands them over to the IDF.

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

After more than two years of intense Israeli bombing, the United Nations estimates that about 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas says it is doing its best to recover the bodies of the hostages, but is having trouble finding them under the rubble of buildings bombed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesman said Hamas knew where the bodies were.

“Hamas will be able to recover the remains of our hostages if they try harder,” the spokesman said.

Trump posted on his Truth social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the dead hostages were not returned quickly.

“Some bodies are hard to reach, but others can now come back and for some reason they don’t. Maybe it has to do with their disarmament,” he said.

Trump added: “We’ll see what they do in the next 48 hours. I’m watching it very closely.”

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would decide which foreign troops to allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure a ceasefire under Trump’s plan.

“We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear to international forces that Israel will decide which forces are unacceptable to us, and that is how we operate and will continue,” he said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday “Several countries” had offered to be part of the force – but added that Israel has to be comfortable with the participants.

This appeared to be a reference to Turkey amid reports that Israel had vetoed the country’s participation.

It remained unclear, however, how such forces could be deployed without reconciliation with Hamas.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.