Egypt and Red Cross join hostage search in Gaza

An Egyptian team and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been allowed to search the bodies of dead hostages captured during the October 7 attack, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government said the teams were allowed to search beyond the so-called “yellow line” in areas controlled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip.

Separately, Israeli media reported on Sunday that Hamas fighters may also enter the IDF-controlled Gaza Strip to assist with searches along with ICRC teams.

Hamas handed over 15 of the 28 Israeli hostages killed under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. This requires the handover of all hostage bodies. The group said it was currently cooperating with Egyptian authorities.

President Donald Trump warned Hamas: “If they do not return the bodies quickly, other countries participating in this great peace will take action.”

An Israeli spokesman said the Egyptian team was permitted to work with the ICRC to find the bodies and would use excavators and trucks to search beyond the “yellow line”.

The “yellow line” marks the border running along the north, south and east of the Gaza Strip, where Israel withdrew as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

To date, Israel has not approved the participation of such a team.

Egypt, along with Qatar and Türkiye, is a major signatory to the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

Relatives who hear this news will be desperate to give him a proper funeral.

The ICRC has already been heavily involved in hostage repatriation.

Hamas does not hand over prisoners directly to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), regardless of whether they are alive or not, but to the ICRC. The ICRC escorts them through Gaza and hands them over to the IDF.

However, the arrival of the Egyptian excavation team in Gaza is something new.

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

Hamas said it was doing its best to recover the bodies of the hostages but was having difficulty finding them amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.

We are currently working with Egyptian authorities.

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

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

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

“Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but others may be coming back now but for some reason they are not. Perhaps this has something to do with disarmament,” he said.

“We’ll see what they do over the next 48 hours,” Trump said, adding, “I’m watching this very closely.”

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would decide which foreign troops would be allowed as part of a planned international force in Gaza to ensure a ceasefire under President Trump’s plan.

“We control our security and we have made it clear that Israel will decide which forces we cannot tolerate in relation to international forces, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate,” he said.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “many countries” had offered to join the military, but that Israel should be comfortable accepting participants.

This appears to be a reference to Turkey, amid reports that Israel has rejected Turkish involvement.

But it was unclear how such forces could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas.

Israel began military operations in response to the attack on Gaza on October 7, 2023. In the attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.

At least 68,519 people have since been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.