International teams searching for the bodies of hostages have been allowed to cross Israel’s military boundary in Gaza, according to an Israeli government spokesperson.
Hamas says it has expanded its search for the bodies of hostages in Gaza, a day after a team of Egyptian experts arrived to help retrieve them.
The team is working with the Red Cross during the search.
“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,” the government spokesperson said on Sunday.
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Teams using excavators in Khan Younis. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
The military boundary, often referred to as the “yellow line”, is a boundary for Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops in Gaza, established by the ceasefire agreement.
The fragile ceasefire, brokered by the US, relies on Hamas returning all the remains of Israeli hostages as soon as possible, but in the past five days, no bodies have been released.
Read more: Revealed: The plan for a ‘New Gaza’
On Saturday, the Egyptian team arrived with an excavator and bulldozers to help search for bodies, as part of efforts by international mediators to make sure the ceasefire holds.
The bodies of 13 hostages remain in Gaza, with Hamas chief Khalil al Hayya saying the group has started searching in new areas on Sunday morning.
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Israel backing armed groups despite Gaza ceasefire
As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel agreed to give back 15 bodies of Palestinians for every body of a hostage.
Israel has now sent back the bodies of 195 Palestinians, while Hamas has returned 15 bodies of hostages.
US President Donald Trump warned he is “watching very closely” to ensure Hamas returns more bodies.
“Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely,” he said in his post on Saturday.
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Vance: ‘Optimistic a ceasefire will hold’
Last week, Hayya told an Egyptian media outlet that efforts to retrieve the bodies faced challenges because of the massive destruction, burying them deep underground.
On Saturday night, Israeli forces struck the central Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza for the second time in a week, according to Awda Hospital.
Read more on Gaza:
Videos show fresh evidence of Israeli support for Gaza militia
Sky News reports from inside a Gaza City suburb
The IDF claimed it was targeting militants associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group who were planning to attack Israeli troops.
Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, denied it was preparing for an attack.
Hamas called the strike a “clear violation” of the ceasefire and accused Benjamin Netanyahu of attempting to sabotage President Trump’s efforts to end the war.
The strike on Saturday came hours after US secretary of state Marco Rubio left Israel.
He was the latest in a series of White House officials to visit Israel and visit a new centre for civilian and military coordination that is attempting to oversee the ceasefire.
US vice president JD Vance was in Israel earlier this week, as were American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.
