Israel permits entry of Egyptian team to Gaza to help 'locate the slain hostages’

The Israeli government has approved the entry of an Egyptian technical team to help in the search for hostage remains in the Gaza Strip and their retrieval, Israeli media reported on Saturday evening. 

There has been no handover of hostage remains since last Wednesday, when Hamas returned the remains of Aryeh Zalmonovitz and Tamir Adar. There are still 13 slain hostages whose remains are in Gaza. 

The entry of the Egyptian team was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the Prime Minister’s Office noting that “it is a technical team. They are only going in to locate the hostages.” 

According to a report in Ynet News, the entry of the Egyptian team was agreed upon during talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad during his recent visit to Israel. 

Channel 12 News said that the Egyptian team has received information from both Israel and Hamas regarding the possible locations of the remains. 

The Israeli government believes that Hamas may not know the location of the remains of around 5 hostages, but says that the location of the remains of the other 8 are known to the terror group. 

Channel 12 also reported that Israel considered imposing restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, until Hamas hands over more bodies. The agency reported that U.S. officials opposed the action, conveying a message to Israel that this step was unacceptable to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

“For him (Trump), harming humanitarian aid is a red line," Trump administration officials told the Israeli government. “Such a move could contribute to the collapse of the ceasefire, and therefore to the collapse of the entire Trump plan.” 

However, there are concerns in Israel and the U.S. that Hamas could be delaying the transfer of the hostage remains in order to drag out the first phase of the ceasefire deal and delay any discussion of the group’s disarmament. Hamas has claimed that it will need heavy equipment to retrieve the rest. 

President Trump said in a recent social media post that Hamas has 48 hours to return the hostage remains, although, he did not specify any consequence for the terror group’s failure to do so. 

A senior cabinet official told Ynet News, “We know that Hamas has the ability to release more hostages immediately without much effort, and that's not happening. Therefore, we are definitely looking at how to do it, when to do it, with what tools to do it.” 

The source also said that Israel is “maintaining coordination with the Americans.” 

Public Broadcaster Kan News reported that Israeli officials shared intelligence with Vice President JD Vance, indicating that Hamas is capable of returning more hostage bodies. 

Meanwhile, IDF officials are reportedly concerned that the lack of sanctions against Hamas will simply lead to the terror group continuing to delay. At the same time, Israeli media report that the government believes it could receive an additional pair of hostage remains later today, Sunday. 

Hamas has stated its commitment to the ceasefire, with the deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, telling the Qatari-run Al Jazeera, “We will enter new areas in Gaza on Sunday to search for bodies.” 

Al-Hayya also told the Qatari news agency that the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip is “insufficient.” 

“The humanitarian situation is deeply concerning to us. Gaza needs 6,000 trucks of aid daily, not just 600,” al-Hayya stated. “We are not satisfied with the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip and call on the mediators to intervene.” 

He claimed that if Israel did not increase aid into Gaza, it could “endanger the agreement.” 

The Hamas official reiterated the group’s stance that, despite the terms of the ceasefire plan negotiated by the U.S. administration, Hamas has no intention of surrendering its weapons, or abandoning participation in the governance of Gaza. 

“We want to go to elections as a prelude to reunifying the national ranks,” al-Hayya told Al Jazeera.