Hamas has expanded its search for bodies of hostages in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian group said Sunday, a day after Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help retrieve them.
Red Cross and Egyptian teams have also been permitted to search for the bodies of deceased hostages beyond the "yellow line" demarcating the Israeli military's pullback in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Sunday.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, Hamas is expected to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. Israel has agreed to return 15 bodies of Palestinians for each one.
No pillar of stability: 'Every single child in Gaza is suffering from severe, deep & intense trauma'
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07:45
Children and others watched the Egyptian equipment claw through the sand near badly damaged buildings in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Hamas has returned the remains of 15 hostages but hasn't handed over any in five days. Israel has returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians, many of them unidentified.
More complicated steps lie ahead under the ceasefire plan, including the disarming of Hamas and the post-war governance of famine-stricken Gaza, where the UN and partners continue to urge Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid.
Read moreInside post-ceasefire Gaza: Israel-backed militias, clan wars and Hamas’s fight to survive
International media have been barred from Gaza aside from brief visits with Israel's military, and Israel on Sunday said that hadn't changed.
Hamas' chief in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, said the group started searching new areas for bodies of the remaining 13 hostages, according to comments the group shared Sunday.
US President Donald Trump warned Saturday he was “watching very closely” to ensure Hamas returns more bodies in the next 48 hours.
“Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not,” he said on social media. He did not provide evidence to substantiate his claim.
'Israel turned detention facilities into torture camps where people are being held without charges'
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06:20
Hamas has repeatedly said efforts to retrieve remains face challenges because of the massive destruction visited upon Gaza by Israel's two-year military campaign.
An Egyptian team with equipment including an excavator and bulldozers entered Gaza on Saturday as part of mediators' efforts to shore up the ceasefire, two Egyptian officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the military's actions after Israeli forces struck the central Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza late Saturday, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the wounded.
The military claimed it targeted militants associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group who were planning to attack troops. Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, denied the allegation.
Hamas called the strike a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement and accused Netanyahu of attempting to sabotage US efforts to end the war.
Read moreAs Israeli forces withdraw after ceasefire, Hamas tightens its grip on the streets of Gaza
“Of course, we also thwart dangers as they are being formed, before they are carried out, as we did just yesterday in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday.
Israel also targeted Nuseirat on October 19, after the military accused Hamas militants of killing two soldiers. Hamas denied being responsible for their deaths.
Israel that day launched dozens of strikes across Gaza, killing at least 36 Palestinians, including women and children, according to local health authorities. It was the most serious challenge to the ceasefire.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)
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