Red Cross and Egyptian teams allowed to search for hostage bodies in Israeli-held Gaza territory; official says Hamas allowed there too

Red Cross and Egyptian teams have been permitted by Israel to search for the bodies of deceased hostages inside Israeli-held territory beyond the “Yellow Line” demarcating the military’s pullback in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government spokesperson says.

She says that the Egyptian technical team and the Red Cross will use excavators and trucks for the search for the bodies in territory under IDF control.

Another unnamed Israeli official told Hebrew-language media earlier today that Hamas representatives had been permitted to enter the IDF-controlled areas in Gaza to search for the bodies alongside the Egyptian and Red Cross teams.

Footage earlier showed Hamas members — reportedly from the “Shadow Unit” of the group’s military wing responsible for guarding hostages — together with a Red Cross vehicle in the al-Mawasi area near Rafah, which is not an Israeli-controlled area.

The spokesperson also says that Hamas knows where some hostages are being held: “Israel is aware that Hamas knows where our deceased hostages are, in fact, located. If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages,” she says.