The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that its representatives accompanied members of Hamas into areas of the Gaza Strip still under Israeli military control to support the hunt for the bodies of Israeli hostages.
Under the truce negotiated by the United States, which began on 10 October, Hamas is required to hand over the bodies of all captives as soon as possible. In exchange, the Israeli government has agreed to transfer the remains of 15 Palestinians for every Israeli body returned.
Hamas has to date returned the remains of fifteen of those held captive but zero in the last five days, as some of those remains are believed to be in locations past the yellow line designating the temporary truce line.
“At the request of the parties, the Red Cross joined a participant in the hostilities as the party looked for the bodies of the deceased individuals past the IDF-designated ‘yellow boundary’,” stated a spokesperson for the organization.
The spokesperson added: “Those involved to the conflict determined the modalities of the mission and entrusted the ICRC to act as a neutral intermediary. The ICRC was had no part in those negotiations.”
The official additionally explained: “The ICRC was not involved in the search for the deceased nor does it take part in the physical recovery of human remains.”
Under global legal norms, it is the responsibility of the sides engaged in a conflict to search for, gather, and retrieve the bodies of the deceased.
Recently, the American leader issued a two-day demand to the organization. “Hamas is going to have to begin handing over the remains of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will intervene,” he posted on his online channel.
As the 48-hour deadline neared, Hamas, accompanied by the ICRC, joined teams from Egypt, who were granted permission by Israeli authorities to look for remains past the boundary marking the withdrawal of troops inside the territory. An Israeli spokesperson said the delegation would use heavy machinery and trucks in the operation.
The news was corroborated by an unnamed Israeli official, who told local press that Hamas representatives had been permitted to access sections of Gaza under military authority to look for the remains of captives, together with Egypt’s and Red Cross teams.
“For this purpose, representatives were allowed to pass the designated boundary,” the official was quoted as saying.
Video released by a media outlet seemed to show members of a Hamas unit – part of the group’s military wing tasked with guarding captives – accompanying a Red Cross vehicle in a specific location near Rafah, which lies outside Israeli military control.
The search for the bodies of individuals taken captive has turned into one of the most sensitive issues in the ceasefire agreed between the two sides. Yet, the effort to find the remains has proved challenging from the beginning, given the existence of an approximate 60m tonnes of debris across the territory, where, as per health officials, at least ten thousand Palestinians are listed as missing, trapped under the rubble.
Hamas has claimed it lacks information on the precise whereabouts of all the remains, saying it has lost contact with several of its teams that had been holding the hostages and were reportedly killed during Israeli bombardments.
However, an official representative claimed that the organization knew the whereabouts of the bodies. “If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages,” the official said.
While the American leader has conceded that a portion of the remains are hard to access, he said that “others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are failing to do so.”
“It may have to do with the surrender of weapons of the group,” he added.
Washington has said it has obtained assurances from the organization that the group will disarm, though no clear timeline has been established. The militant organisation remains hesitant to give up its weapons without firm assurances about the future of its fighters.
