Red Cross Assists Hamas in Search for Bodies of Israeli Hostages in Gaza Strip

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that its personnel accompanied members of Hamas into zones of the Gaza Strip still under IDF control to support the hunt for the remains of Israeli hostages.

Truce Agreements and Captive Bodies Return

Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to hand over the remains of all captives as soon as possible. As a reciprocal measure, the Israeli government has agreed to transfer 15 Palestinian bodies for every Israeli body returned.

Hamas has to date handed back the remains of 15 of those held captive but none in the last five days, as a portion of those bodies are thought to be in areas beyond the ceasefire boundary marking the temporary truce line.

ICRC Role as Impartial Facilitator

“Upon the appeal of the parties, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) joined a participant in the hostilities as the group searched for the bodies of the deceased individuals past the military-established ‘yellow boundary’,” said a representative for the organization.

She continued: “The parties to the hostilities determined the procedures of the mission and delegated the ICRC to act as a neutral intermediary. We was not involved in those negotiations.”

She further explained: “Our team was did not participate in the search for the bodies nor does it take part in the retrieval of remains.”

International Humanitarian Law and Responsibilities

According to international humanitarian law, it is the responsibility of the sides involved in a hostilities to locate, gather, and recover the bodies of the deceased.

US Demand and Regional Search Efforts

Recently, the US president issued a two-day ultimatum to the militant group. “Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the hostages who died, including two Americans, quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action,” he posted on his social‑media platform.

As the two-day window approached, Hamas, joined by the Red Cross, teamed up with Egyptian teams, who were granted permission by Israeli authorities to search for remains beyond the boundary indicating the Israeli military’s pullback inside the territory. An official representative said the delegation would use excavator machines and trucks in the operation.

Official Verification and Media Reports

The news was supported by an source within Israel, who told local press that Hamas representatives had been permitted to access sections of Gaza under military authority to search for the remains of hostages, alongside Egyptian and Red Cross teams.

“To achieve this goal, representatives were allowed to cross the yellow line,” the official was cited as stating.

Video published by a media outlet appeared to show members of a specialized group – belonging to the organization’s military wing tasked with holding captives – accompanying a Red Cross vehicle in a coastal area close to a southern city, which is beyond IDF jurisdiction.

Difficulties in Finding Hostage Remains

Efforts to locate for the bodies of individuals taken captive has become one of the most sensitive matters in the truce agreed between the two sides. However, the attempt to find the bodies has proved challenging from the beginning, given the existence of an estimated 60m tonnes of debris across the territory, where, according to health officials, at least ten thousand residents are listed as unaccounted for, trapped under the debris.

Diverging Claims on Body Location

Hamas has claimed it lacks information on the precise whereabouts of all the remains, saying it has been unable to communicate with several of its units that had been holding the hostages and were reportedly eliminated during Israeli bombardments.

However, an Israeli government spokesperson claimed that the organization knew the locations of the remains. “Should the group exerted greater effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages,” the spokesperson said.

American Position and Disarmament Talks

While the US president has acknowledged that some of the bodies are hard to access, he said that “others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not.”

“This could be related to the disarming of the group,” he added.

Washington has said it has received guarantees from Hamas that the group will surrender its arms, though no specific schedule has been established. The militant organisation remains hesitant to surrender its weapons without firm guarantees about the future of its fighters.